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"It is well; and now, my people, I ask you, whom I have ever trusted, and to whom I have tried to be a friend as well as a master, have you any of you a suspicion what the sheriff is about tonight, and why he desired the prior to tell good Christians to keep within doors?" There was a dead silence. At last one of the c...
"Yes; they tried to get two or three of us to join in the work, but when they found we would do nothing without your knowledge, they told us no more." "Then you do not know what is the exact work they have in hand?" "No. But I heard something which made me think that plunder and massacre were both likely to be committe...
"Yes. That of Anlaf." "This explains Siric's insolence, Cuthbert." "It does," I replied. "But surely they cannot intend to do anything tonight. They would not choose Sunday for a deed of darkness. Men who have attended mass during the day, surely would not so forget their God as to go through the country like cowardly ...
"I should hope the same; but then the looks and words of today," said I. "Did they say what authority they had for their projected scheme?" "They dared to say," replied the ceorl who had before spoken, "they had the sanction of the king." There was again a painful silence. We groaned in the bitterness of our hearts--O ...
Every impulse of our hearts led us to detest the cruel deed of treachery about to be consummated, but which we could not prevent. At least there was one whom we could save from the general destruction, the young Alfgar, and we determined to detain him if possible by persuasion, keeping the truth from him, but in any ca...
"Alfgar," said Elfwyn, "the night is very stormy and blustering, and we wish you to remain with us, and share our hospitality till the morn. Your father will not miss you?" "I do not think he will; for after one of these debauches he generally sleeps far into the next day. But the domestic serfs may remark my absence."...
"They have suffered much, my lad; and suffering, as is often the case, has blunted their feelings. But you will stay with us, will you not?" "I will stay; many thanks for your kindness." After this I had nothing further to detain me at the castle, so I left for the priory. It was a black dark night. The violence of the...
When I had finished there was a dead pause, during which the howling blast without, as it dashed the hail against the casement, seemed a fitting accompaniment to our sombre thoughts. The compline bell rang. This office is always full of heavenly comfort, but there seemed a special meaning tonight in one verse--"A thous...
I tried to hope, but against reason, that we had perhaps exaggerated the danger. Still, after the compline was over, we sat in deliberation a long time in the hall. The novices and lay brothers, ignorant of the peril, had retired to rest; but we, who knew the portentous state of things around us, could not have slept h...
I thought of the poor boy, with thankfulness that we had restrained him from returning home. He is saved, at least, thought I, as a brand from the burning. The other brethren joined us, and after a short consultation, we determined to go to the scene in a body, to mitigate the rage of the people, and save life where we...
"Verily our path is hedged about with thorns. It is hard to kick against the pricks," said the chamberlain. "It is God's work," said I, "and we may not falter." Yet I felt my own heart weak. But for the red light, which shone even through the shade of the forest, we could not have pursued our path. But plainer and plai...
Before us, at the distance of a few hundred yards, defended by a mound and a ditch, rose the irregular and fortified dwelling of Anlaf. It was wrapped in flames from top to basement, and even as we looked one of the towers gave way, and fell upon the hall beneath, with hideous din, in headlong ruin. Around the blazing ...
"Sir monk," was the reply, "are you traitor to your king that you thus league yourself with his deadly enemies? All that is done this night is done by his order." "God will avenge the deed," said I. "Ye have not fought like men, but crept on like serpents, and slain those who, trusting to the faith of Christians, dwelt...
"The wolf cub! the wolf cub! Slay him, and the work is complete." The cry, "Slay him! slay him!" was taken up by a dozen voices, when I recognised Alfgar, who by some means had learned the danger of his kinsfolk, and had come to share their fate. "Save him, sheriff!" I cried; "save him! He is a Christian. His mother wa...
I held up the crucifix, which hung at my girdle, on high; I threw my arm over his head, and abjured them under the name of Christ, and as they feared the curse of the Church, to forbear. My brethren all aided me. Sullenly they dropped their weapons, and the sheriff, coming forward, seconded me, although in a very conte...
I had scarcely time to lay him on a sloping bank, where the light which shone so luridly from his burning home might fall upon him, when my brother Elfwyn appeared on the scene with a score of his men. He recognised us by our habits, and came and looked with me at the orphan as he lay on the bank. The boy had received ...
"Good day, or rather night, to you, Thane of Aescendune," said he to Elfwyn; "we have had a fair night's work, and destroyed a big wasp's nest; have you come for your share in the spoil?" "I only ask permission to preserve life; your work has been of an opposite nature." "Yes, we have been obedient to our king, and ave...
"Murder! it is not murder to slay heathen Danes; had they been Christians it would, of course, have been a different thing." "He hath made of one blood all the nations of the earth," I replied. "The good prior wishes me to talk theology. Unfortunately I have much work to do; you will hear tidings soon of other Danish h...
We had, meanwhile, placed Alfgar, now partially recovered, on a palfrey; and, supported by my brother and me, one on each side, we led him homewards. Arrived at the castle, we gave him to the care of Osred, the domestic physician. He looked at the patient, and pronounced a favourable opinion, saying that with time and ...
"Where am I?" he inquired. "In the Hall of Aescendune; you have been very ill here." "Indeed! I have had such dreadful dreams!--but were they all dreams?" "Your mind has been wandering for days, my dear son. You must not talk too much."
He was silent, but evidently pondered more. December 25, Christmas Day, 1003. {iv}-- All the household has given itself up to joy and gladness; even poor Alfgar, who has been released today from the confinement of his chamber, has entered into the general joy, although ever and anon relapsing into sadness. He knows all...
"My boy," I said, "you have not lately inquired about your father." He looked at me very sadly. "I know all," he said, "that you would tell me. I have no father, no mother, no kinsfolk." "Some of our people have told you then?"
"No. At first the events of that fearful night seemed all like a dream, and mingled themselves with the strange spectres which haunted me in delirium; but afterwards the real separated itself from the unreal, and I knew that my father and all his friends, my Danish uncles amongst them, had perished with the whole house...
"I have no other home." And he retired to his little chamber, from which he emerged no more today. Feast of the Epiphany.-- This day my catechumen Alfgar was baptized in the priory church. It seemed useless to delay longer, as he was fully prepared both intellectually and spiritually, nay, has been so for some time, on...
CHAPTER IV. THE DANES IN WESSEX. Up to this period we have availed ourselves of extracts from the Diary of Father Cuthbert; but the events of the following four years, as recorded in that record, although full of interest for the antiquarian or the lover of monastic lore, would possess scant interest for the general re...
The following year East Anglia suffered as Wessex had suffered the year before. Ulfketyl, the ealdorman, gave them much money, hoping to buy peace from the merciless pagans. The result was as he might have expected. They took the money, laughing at his simplicity, and three weeks afterwards pillaged Thetford, and burnt...
Bertric was now about sixteen--a handsome, attractive boy, full of life and fire, yet still possessing that devotion which Father Cuthbert had remarked in him as a boy of twelve. As the heir to the lands of Aescendune, and the only son, he would have been in much danger of being spoiled had he been less genuine and man...
The priory bell was tolling for compline, and thither many of the people, released from their labour, were wending their way. The Thane and his children, accompanied by Alfgar, paused on their homeward road, and when the drowsy tinkling ceased, deep silence seemed to fall over the landscape, while the night darkened--i...
"Father," said Bertric, "look at that light! Is it not singular? I never saw one there before." But even while they looked another fire appeared in an opposite direction, and Bertric saw his father turn grave. "It is the beacon fire," said he seriously. "Yes it is, and see it is answered from the hills to the north," s...
Then they were silent, and Bertric felt his spirits sink with a vague kind of apprehension. They said no more till they reached home, and the whole family met, much later than usual, at the evening meal. "You are late," said Hilda to her lord. "We were returning home from the meadows on the water, whence the last load ...
"I did; and it made me uneasy." "Why so, my Elfwyn?" "You forget that when the last invasion of our pagan foes was over, it was agreed in the Witan that a set of beacons should be prepared, in readiness to fire, on the tops of the hills, and that if the Danes appeared again, they should be fired everywhere, in which ca...
"Still the beacon piles remain or did remain. I saw one at the summit of the hills which the trackway crosses between our county and Oxfordshire, when I last returned form Beranbyrig {v}, and I think that one gives the present alarm. It means the Danes are again in the land." "Now, God forbid!" said Hilda, with clasped...
Ascending the hill, they directed their steps towards the highest point, where an old watchtower had once been reared, composed of timber, and overlooking the forest. From the summit the party gazed over three or four counties lying dimly beneath them in the still moonlight. The mist, slowly rising from the river and f...
"What must we do, father?" "Summon and arm all our vassals, and await the sheriff's orders; the king will communicate to us through him. We know not yet where the danger is." "Perhaps it is only a false alarm," said Bertric. "God grant it; but I dare not hope as much."
Alfgar was very silent. Well he might be. The enemy dreaded was his own kith and kin; and although all his sympathies were with his English friends, from whom he had received more kindness and love than he had ever known elsewhere, yet he seemed to feel compromised by the deeds of his kindred, whose savage cruelty no C...
"Alas for poor Wessex!" "Alas for England! I have a foreboding that we shall not always be exempt from the woes which affect our neighbours. Wessex scarcely tempts the plunderer now; neither does East Anglia. Northumbria is half Danish, and kites do not peck out kites' eyes. No; on Mercia, poor Mercia, the blow must so...
It was silent, deep night; the whole house was buried in slumber, when Alfgar dreamed a strange dream. He thought he stood amidst the ruins of his home, the home of his father Anlaf, and that he heard steps approaching from the forest. Soon a solitary figure emerged, and searched anxiously amongst the fallen and blacke...
The rest of the party returned home to break their fast, and conversed about the warnings of the preceding night. While they were still at their meal, Bertric, who sat near a window, cried out, "I see a horseman coming from Warwick." The panting steed was soon reined up in front of the drawbridge, which was down as usu...
"They are in Wessex, plundering, murdering, and burning. The forces are all to meet at Dorchester as soon as man and horse can get there." "Where did they land?" "The great fleet came to Sandwich, and they are advancing westward as fast as they can come." "Are they merciless as ever?"
"Worse." "The fiends!" said Bertric bitterly; and then seeing Alfgar's saddened face, said, "Oh, I beg pardon," which made matters worse. "You are not a Dane, Alfgar; you are a Christian; no one thinks of you as one." Shortly Elfwyn returned from the priory, and received the messenger. The sealed packet only contained ...
All the necessary preparations for departure were shortly made--the theows and ceorls were collected together, beasts of burden selected to carry the necessary baggage, the wallets filled with provisions. Before the third hour of the day all had been done which the simple habits of the time required, and only the sorro...
"Nay, Alfgar, remain at home; to you I commend the protection of my home, of the Lady Hilda, and our children," said Elfwyn. Neither were Bertric's prayers to be allowed to share his father's perils any better received. He was bidden to remain where he was, and to be a good son to his mother--not that he had ever been ...
CHAPTER V. THE TRACKS IN THE FOREST. It was a long time before any news of the warriors reached home; for in those days the agony of suspense had always to be endured in the absence of posts and telegrams; but after a few weeks a special messenger came from the army. He was one of the Aescendune people, and his was the...
Edric had conceived a hatred against the Ealdorman Elfhelm, which he carefully concealed. He invited that unfortunate lord to a banquet at Shrewsbury, where he welcomed him as his intimate friend. On the third or fourth day of the feast he took him to hunt in a wood where he had prepared an ambuscade, and while all the...
The war was at present raging in the southern counties, but ever and anon the marauders made a forced march, and sacked some helpless town remote from the seat of war. There was no prospect, Elfwyn said, of the campaign coming to an end; the harvest must take care of itself or the women and children must reap it. The m...
One Boom, a retainer of Elfwyn, had been taken prisoner by the Danes, and by a very uncommon piece of good fortune had escaped with life from his ferocious captors. He stated that he had been closely examined concerning his home, character of the population, and their means of defence, especially as to the events of St...
Alfgar had one source of consolation in the love he bore to Ethelgiva, a love which was fully returned. Their troth had been pledged to each other with the full consent of Elfwyn and the Lady Hilda; and on those fine August nights, as they walked home after the labours in the field, or the service in the priory, they f...
It was a fine day in September when the thankful people of Aescendune were called to raise the song of "Harvest Home"--for the fruits of the earth had indeed been safely gathered in ere the winter storms by the hands of women and children. Such joy as befitted the absence of their lords was theirs, and Alfgar and Bertr...
Leaving the bathing place while there was yet time to reach home before dark, they came at last to a ford across the stream, the only spot where it could be safely forded, and as such known to the natives of the vicinity; when their dogs began to whine, and to run with their noses to the ground, as if they had found so...
"Look," he said, "at the footmarks, where some have dismounted." Bertric looked, and comprehended the terror of his companion. The armed heels, which had sunk deeply into the mud, had left traces utterly unlike the marks to which they were accustomed in similar cases. The stories they had both heard of predatory bands ...
The spoils generally went the other way, Alfgar thought, but did not say. They crossed the ford in silence, intent only on reaching home. For a long time they could follow the trail of the horsemen. "Who can lead them?" said Bertric, as they bounded onward. "They seem to know the country." A sad and harrowing suspicion...
But the one desire uppermost in the minds of the whole party was to hasten home. They feared every moment that they might see the bright flame through the trees, or that the wind might bring them the tidings that they were all too late--too late to save those whom they loved from outrage and death. So they continued ru...
"It is gone," said Alfgar, with bated breath. They said no more, but continued their headlong course, until they had reached an open glade by the side of a small stream. Here their dogs became uneasy, and uttered low threatening growls. The lads paused, then advanced cautiously, looking before and around. Turning a cor...
A huge fire burned by the side of a brook, over which was roasting the deer which they had killed. The light shone out in the gathering darkness, and illumined the recesses of the bushes around, and the faces of a large body of men reclining on the bank, or engaged in the task of sharpening their arms while their suppe...
Poor Bertric would not leave his friend. He tried to assist him, and turned a deaf ear to all solicitations for the few moments that they could have availed. It was soon too late, and the heavy hands of the Danish warriors were laid upon them. Shuddering at the contact, they yet yielded without useless and unmanly resi...
A large athletic warrior, but yet a man of some age, rose from his seat by the fire, and scrutinised the captives. Alfgar knew him. It was Sidroc, an old fellow warrior of his father, who had often visited their home near Aescendune, and he was at no loss now to comprehend the object of their enterprise. The warrior ga...
"Thor and Woden be praised! We had learned that you yet lived. Boy, thou art the object of our search. Thou, the descendant of kings, mayst not longer dwell with slaves. Thy father is at hand." "My FATHER!" "Yes. Didst thou not know that he escaped on St. Brice's night, baffling his would-be assassins, and yet lives? H...
CHAPTER VI. THROUGH SUFFERING TO GLORY. For a few minutes Alfgar sat like one stunned by the intelligence. Joy and fear were strangely mingled together; well did he remember Sidroc's frequent visits to his father's English home, and that the warrior had more than once taken him in his infancy upon his knee and sung to ...
"Bertric, the son of Elfwyn of Aescendune; oh! you will see that no wrong is done to him, will you not? his people saved my life." "That they might make you a Christian, knowing that your father would sooner you had expired in the flames which consumed his house. "No," he added sternly; "he is doomed, he and his alike....
"Does the eagle mourn over the death of the dove, or heed what pangs the kid may suffer which writhes beneath its talons? If you are of the race of warrior kings, act like one." While this was going on the warriors had been selecting some light and sharp arrows and stringing their bows. "You have but one target, not tw...
He snatched at a weapon, and rushed to the tree to which the victim was bound, as if he would save him or perish in the attempt, but a grasp like iron was thrown around him, and he struggled in vain. "Bind him, but do him no harm," said Sidroc, "and detain him where he may see all, and strengthen his nerves for future ...
"Bertric of Aescendune, thou mayst save thy life on one condition; dost thou wish to live?" The thought of home and friends, of his mother, awoke in his breast, and he replied: "Yes, for the sake of those who love me." "I know nought of them, neither must thou henceforth, but thou mayst live if thou wilt join our natio...
"I cannot deny my faith." "Dost thou not fear the pain, the sharp arrows with which they will pierce thee?" "I fear them, but I fear eternal death more; God help me!" He repeated these last words over and over again, as if the struggle were very sore.
"Decide," said Sidroc. "I have decided--'In manus tuas, Domine,'" he breathed out, "'commendo spiritum meum.'" "Let fly," cried the chieftain, "and let the obstinate young fool know what death is." Arrow after arrow sped through the air and pierced the legs and arms of the martyr boy, for it was the cruel amusement of ...
Then Alfgar saw what was the marvellous power of Christianity, and beheld a heroism utterly beyond the fierce excitement which nerved his countrymen for their scenes of carnage and blood; not one of his pagan friends could have suffered as calmly, as patiently--it seemed easier for the sufferer to bear than for Alfgar ...
Yet there was a wondrous beauty still lingering over them; they seemed etherialised--as if an angel's smile had last stirred their lines, when the spirit went forth, and left its imprint of wonder, joy, and awe thereon; and Alfgar instinctively turned from them to the blue depths of heaven above, where a few stars were...
One hope Alfgar had, and that not a faint one: he knew that the two theows had escaped unnoticed, and that they would give warning in time for either defence or escape; their strength at Aescendune was but slight for the former, all the able-bodied men were absent at the seat of war. In the excitement of the last hour ...
He was strongly, but not cruelly bound; it evidently was not intended to hurt him, only to secure him, and he could see that one of the warriors was especially charged to guard him. Oh, how anxiously he strained the senses of sight and hearing for news from the forest party! could he but have given one warning, he woul...
But no screams of distress or agony pierced the air from two hundred women and children, and Alfgar hoped, oh, so earnestly! that they might have escaped, warned in time by the theows. With this hope he was forced to rest content, as hour after hour rolled by, and at length the footsteps of a returning party were heard...
Such seemed to be the substance of the complaint of the warriors on guard, from which Alfgar felt justified in believing in the escape of the theows, and the consequent deliverance of the people, if not of the place. Half the horses were taken to fetch the plunder, the other half left where they were, for the spot was ...
"No, but plenty of plunder." "That is not enough, we want revenge. Odin and Thor will not know their children; our spears should not be bright." "They must have been forewarned; Eric said that they had taken away a great many things." "Why could we not trace them?"
"Because there is no time; we are too far from the army and fleet; we must return immediately, before the country takes the alarm; remember we are only fifty." "Yes, but mounted upon the best horses, and the first warriors of our family; we may take some plunder, and send a few Englishmen to Niffelheim, before we get b...
"He died bravely." "Yes, that is a Christian's kind of courage." "Well, perhaps some day they will learn to fight, and then--" "Their songs tell them of an Alfred who defeated our best warriors."
"That was long ago; if you go back far enough these English were sea kings before they were spoiled by becoming Christians." "Hush; I think I hear steps." "Who comes?" cried one of the guards, challenging a newcomer. "I, Anlaf, your chief."
And the father of Alfgar appeared on the scene. Of average height, Anlaf possessed vast muscular powers; his sinews stood out like tight cords, and his frame, although robust, was yet such that there seemed no useless flesh about him. His hair was a deep grizzled red, as also his beard, and his eyes were of the same ti...
They did so. He looked mournfully yet sternly on the youth, who himself trembled all over with emotion. "Alfgar," he said, "do I indeed see my son?" "You do, my father."
"Follow me; nay, you are wounded--lean on my arm." Alfgar's thigh had, it will be remembered, been pierced by an arrow, but the wound was not deep, and with his father's assistance he could proceed. He knew where Anlaf led. At length they came upon a deserted clearing, and there he paused until Alfgar, who could scarce...
CHAPTER VII. FATHER AND SON. "Here, my son," said the old warrior, as he pointed out the blackened ruins, "here stood our home, where now the screech owl haunts, and the wolf has its den. There, where the broken shaft yet remains, was the chamber in which thou first sawest the light, and wherein thy mother died there, ...
"Nay. I had spent the previous day with them, and returned home only in time to find the place in flames. The enemy seized me, and would have slain me, but Elfwyn and his brother, Father Cuthbert, delivered me; and now thou hast slain their Bertric, and burnt both hall and priory." "Think not that I owe them gratitude ...
"I can but say it, father. In all that touches not my faith and duty as a Christian, I am bound to love, honour, and obey you. But our religion forbids me to nourish revenge." "Of what religion, pray, were they who would have slain thy father on St. Brice's night?" Alfgar hung his head. "When Christians practise themse...
"There are good and bad Christians, father." "Commend me to the bad ones then. Do not speak to me of a religion which makes men cowards and slaves. These English were warriors once, till the Pope and his bishops converted them, and now what are they? cruel and treacherous as ever, only without the courage of men." Alfg...
There was a time when this temptation would have been almost irresistible, but that time was over, and after one earnest prayer for strength from above, Alfgar replied. "My father, if you claim my obedience, I must even go with you to your people, but it will be to my death. I have said I am a Christian." "And dost tho...
"Thou dost not fear death then?" "Thou hast left one behind thee--one who did not fear to die the martyr's death." "Dost thou mean Bertric of Aescendune?" "I do; they slew him, cruelly, although neither he nor his have ever dealt cruelly with thy people."
"Thy people, why not our people? art thou ashamed of thy kindred?" "Of their cruelty and treachery." Anlaf laughed aloud. "Cruelty and treachery indeed! and canst thou say that here? who set the example in this place?
"Come boy, come," he continued, "I will lead thee to those who shall soon talk or drive all this Christian nonsense out of your young head; meanwhile, do not disgrace yourself and me by attempting to escape." Alfgar sighed, and accompanied his father, so inopportunely found, back to the camp. Arrived there, the word wa...
"O Aescendune, once happy Aescendune!" was the thought, the bitter thought, as each hour placed a larger barrier of space between Alfgar and his late home; all its happy memories came freshly back upon him, and particularly the thought of Ethelgiva, his betrothed, from whom he was so ruthlessly torn, torn as if he left...
The Danes found it hard to repress their laughter at the thought of the reception which awaited the travellers at home; they had no idea of spoiling it by attacking them, although the numbers were about equal; besides, they had got all the plunder and spoil, and a battle would only endanger the success already obtained...
Beautiful in time of peace was the country around, but its desolation was sufficient to sicken the heart. Blackened ruins lay on every side for miles; nay, they had disfigured the whole day's journey. Scarcely a town or hall, unless strongly fortified, had they seen standing, and this for nearly fifty miles. Within thi...
Sweyn was the son of Harold Bluetooth, who reigned in Denmark fifty years, from A.D. 935-985, and who in his old age became a Christian and strove to convert his subjects. But the ferocious warriors rebelled against him, and were headed by his unnatural son, Sweyn, who, although baptized, renounced Christianity, and fo...
By his side, similarly dressed, stood his son, the hopeful Canute, the future King of England, then only in his twelfth year, but already showing himself a true cub of the old tiger in fierceness and valour, yet not devoid of nobler and gentler virtues, as he afterwards showed. "Welcome, Anlaf," cried Sweyn, as he saw ...
"He is with me, my lord, but their saints must have warned the English of our approach. We burnt the place but the people were not in it. Their cries would have been music in our ears." "Perhaps St. Brice told them you were coming; the English have a veneration for him," said Sweyn, bitterly. They both laughed a bitter...
"He is my son;" and Anlaf introduced Alfgar. The youth made his salutations, not ungracefully, yet with an air of reserve which the king noticed. "I thought St. Brice had got him long ago, and feared thou wert on a wild-goose chase." "It is a long tale to tell now, my liege."
"Have they Christianised him?" said the king, with a sly look. "He will soon lose that," replied Anlaf. "Yes," said the king; "we know a way of curing the folly," when, even as he spoke, a spasm, as of mental agony, passed over him, and he shook like an aspen, but it was gone in a minute. Was it the fate of his father ...
Every one looked aside and pretended not to notice the fact, and Anlaf, having made his homage, retired, leading Alfgar. "You see, my son," commenced the old warrior, as he led his recovered boy to his own quarters, "how useless it would be for you to struggle against the tide, such a tide as no swimmer could breast." ...
Over a wide extent of desolated land, beautiful in its general outline, where the eye could not penetrate to details, looked the prospect. The round gently-swelling Sussex downs rose on the southern horizon, guarding the sea, while around them were once cultivated fields which the foe had reaped, while quick streams wo...
St. Matthew's Day, 1006.-- It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write the events of the last few days. They have been so calamitous, so unexpected. We have heard of such things afar off, we had prayed for our brethren in Wessex, exposed to similar calamities, and now they have fallen upon us personally. Ma...
Well, the work was over, and we had a mass of thanksgiving, after which Bertric and Alfgar went hunting in the forest. In the evening there was a harvest home; it was of course a strange one without the men, who were afar off, fighting for their country, but we tried to be thankful for mercies vouchsafed, and I and Fat...
Nothing could be done for the poor lads, and the preservation of the lives of the whole population depended upon our promptitude. It was wonderful to see how the mother stifled her agony in her own breast, while she strove to remember that, in the absence of her lord, she was in charge of the safety of all her people, ...
Thither I saw at once the whole party must retreat, alike from the hall, the priory, and the village. In such a way only could they hope to escape the wretches to whom bloodshed and cruelty are pastimes. Yet I was deeply puzzled to understand what motive could have brought a war party so far, and why they had passed so...
And now, ready for immediate flight, we went forth with calm composure, which God sent us. Then, upon the brink of the stream, we stopped and listened. No sound broke the dread silence of the night, and we stood in perfect quiet for some minutes. At last we heard the sound of muffled footsteps, as of those who sneak ab...

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