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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn, by 
+William Henry Hudson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn
+
+Author: William Henry Hudson
+
+Release Date: November 1, 2006 [EBook #19691]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEAD MAN'S PLACK AND AN OLD THORN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Susan Skinner, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: DEAD MAN'S PLACK.]
+
+
+
+
+DEAD MAN'S PLACK
+
+AND
+
+AN OLD THORN
+
+BY W. H. HUDSON
+
+1920
+LONDON & TORONTO
+J. M. DENT & SONS LTD.
+New York: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+DEAD MAN'S PLACK:
+
+Preamble
+
+Chapter
+
+I.
+
+II.
+
+III.
+
+IV.
+
+V.
+
+VI.
+
+VII.
+
+VIII.
+
+IX.
+
+X.
+
+XI.
+
+XII.
+
+
+AN OLD THORN:
+
+Chapter
+
+I.
+
+II.
+
+III.
+
+
+POSTSCRIPT
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+DEAD MAN'S PLACK
+
+HAWTHORN AND IVY, NEAR THE GREAT RIDGE WOOD
+
+
+
+
+DEAD MAN'S PLACK
+
+
+
+
+PREAMBLE
+
+
+"The insect tribes of human kind" is a mode of expression we are
+familiar with in the poets, moralists and other superior persons, or
+beings, who viewing mankind from their own vast elevation see us all
+more or less of one size and very, very small. No doubt the comparison
+dates back to early, probably Pliocene, times, when some one climbed to
+the summit of a very tall cliff, and looking down and seeing his fellows
+so diminished in size as to resemble insects, not so gross as beetles
+perhaps but rather like emmets, he laughed in the way they laughed then
+at the enormous difference between his stature and theirs. Hence the
+time-honoured and serviceable metaphor.
+
+Now with me, in this particular instance, it was all the other way
+about--from insect to man--seeing that it was when occupied in watching
+the small comedies and tragedies of the insect world on its stage that I
+stumbled by chance upon a compelling reminder of one of the greatest
+tragedies in England's history--greatest, that is to say, in its
+consequences. And this is how it happened.
+
+One summer day, prowling in an extensive oak wood, in Hampshire, known
+as Harewood Forest, I discovered that it counted among its inhabitants
+no fewer than three species of insects of peculiar interest to me, and
+from that time I haunted it, going there day after day to spend long
+hours in pursuit of my small quarry. Not to kill and preserve their
+diminutive corpses in a cabinet, but solely to witness the comedy of
+their brilliant little lives. And as I used to take my luncheon in my
+pocket I fell into the habit of going to a particular spot, some opening
+in the dense wood with a big tree to lean against and give me shade,
+where after refreshing myself with food and drink I could smoke my pipe
+in solitude and peace. Eventually I came to prefer one spot for my
+midday rest in the central part of the wood, where a stone cross,
+slender, beautifully proportioned and about eighteen feet high, had been
+erected some seventy or eighty years before by the lord of the manor. On
+one side of the great stone block on which the cross stood there was an
+inscription which told that it was placed there to mark the spot known
+from of old as Dead Man's Plack; that, according to tradition, handed
+from father to son, it was just here that King Edgar slew his friend and
+favourite Earl Athelwold, when hunting in the forest.
+
+I had sat there on many occasions, and had glanced from time to time at
+the inscription cut on the stone, once actually reading it, without
+having my attention drawn away from the insect world I was living in. It
+was not the tradition of the Saxon king nor the beauty of the cross in
+that green wilderness which drew me daily to the spot, but its
+solitariness and the little open space where I could sit in the shade
+and have my rest.
+
+Then something happened. Some friends from town came down to me at the
+hamlet I was staying at, and one of the party, the mother of most of
+them, was not only older than the rest of us in years, but also in
+knowledge and wisdom; and at the same time she was younger than the
+youngest of us, since she had the curious mind, the undying interest in
+everything on earth--the secret, in fact, of everlasting youth.
+Naturally, being of this temperament, she wanted to know what I was
+doing and all about what I had seen, even to the minutest detail--the
+smallest insect--and in telling her of my days I spoke casually of the
+cross placed at a spot called Dead Man's Plack. This at once reminded
+her of something she had heard about it before, but long ago, in the
+seventies of last century; then presently it all came back to her, and
+it proved to me an interesting story.
+
+It chanced that in that far back time she was in correspondence on
+certain scientific and literary subjects with a gentleman who was a
+native of this part of Hampshire in which we were staying, and that they
+got into a discussion about Freeman, the historian, during which he told
+her of an incident of his undergraduate days when Freeman was professor
+at Oxford. He attended a lecture by that man on the Mythical and
+Romantic Elements in Early English History, in which he stated for the
+guidance of all who study the past, that they must always bear in mind
+the inevitable passion for romance in men, especially the uneducated,
+and that when the student comes upon a romantic incident in early
+history, even when it accords with the known character of the person it
+relates to, he must reject it as false. Then, to rub the lesson in, he
+gave an account of the most flagrant of the romantic lies contained in
+the history of the Saxon kings. This was the story of King Edgar, and
+how his favourite, Earl Athelwold, deceived him as to the reputed beauty
+of Elfrida, and how Edgar in revenge slew Athelwold with his own hand
+when hunting. Then--to show how false it all was!--Edgar, the chronicles
+state, was at Salisbury and rode in one day to Harewood Forest and there
+slew Athelwold. Now, said Freeman, as Harewood Forest is in Yorkshire,
+Edgar could not have ridden there from Salisbury in one day, nor in two,
+nor in three, which was enough to show that the whole story was a
+fabrication.
+
+The undergraduate, listening to the lecturer, thought the Professor was
+wrong owing to his ignorance of the fact that the Harewood Forest in
+which the deed was done was in Hampshire, within a day's ride from
+Salisbury, and that local tradition points to the very spot in the
+forest where Athelwold was slain. Accordingly he wrote to the Professor
+and gave him these facts. His letter was not answered; and the poor
+youth felt hurt, as he thought he was doing Professor Freeman a service
+by telling him something he didn't know. _He_ didn't know his Professor
+Freeman.
+
+This story about Freeman tickled me, because I dislike him, but if any
+one were to ask me why I dislike him I should probably have to answer
+like a woman: Because I do. Or if stretched on the rack until I could
+find or invent a better reason I should perhaps say it was because he
+was so infernally cock-sure, so convinced that he and he alone had the
+power of distinguishing between the true and false; also that he was so
+arbitrary and arrogant and ready to trample on those who doubted his
+infallibility.
+
+All this, I confess, would not be much to say against him, seeing that
+it is nothing but the ordinary professorial or academic mind, and I
+suppose that the only difference between Freeman and the ruck of the
+professors was that he was more impulsive or articulate and had a
+greater facility in expressing his scorn.
+
+Here I may mention in passing that when this lecture appeared in print
+in his _Historical Essays_ he had evidently been put out a little, and
+also put on his mettle by that letter from an undergraduate, and had
+gone more deeply into the documents relating to the incident, seeing
+that he now relied mainly on the discrepancies in half a dozen
+chronicles he was able to point out to prove its falsity. His former
+main argument now appeared as a "small matter of detail"--a "confusion
+of geography" in the different versions of the old historians. But one
+tells us, Freeman writes, that Athelwold was killed in the Forest of
+Wherwell on his way to York, and then he says: "Now as Wherwell is in
+Hampshire, it could not be on the road to York;" and further on he says:
+"Now Harewood Forest in Yorkshire is certainly not the same as Wherwell
+in Hampshire," and so on, and on, and on, but always careful not to say
+that Wherwell Forest and Harewood Forest are two names for one and the
+same place, although now the name of Wherwell is confined to the village
+on the Test, where it is supposed Athelwold had his castle and lived
+with his wife before he was killed, and where Elfrida in her declining
+years, when trying to make her peace with God, came and built a Priory
+and took the habit herself and there finished her darkened life.
+
+This then was how he juggled with words and documents and chronicles
+(his thimble-rigging), making a truth a lie or a lie a truth according
+as it suited a froward and prejudicate mind, to quote the expression of
+an older and simpler-minded historian--Sir Walter Raleigh.
+
+Finally, to wind up the whole controversy, he says you are to take it as
+a positive truth that Edgar married Elfrida, and a positive falsehood
+that Edgar killed Athelwold. Why--seeing there is as good authority and
+reason for believing the one statement as the other? A foolish question!
+Why?--Because I, Professor or Pope Freeman, say so!
+
+The main thing here is the effect the Freeman anecdote had on me, which
+was that when I went back to continue my insect-watching and rested at
+noon at Dead Man's Plack, the old legend would keep intruding itself on
+my mind, until, wishing to have done with it, I said and I swore that it
+was true--that the tradition preserved in the neighbourhood, that on
+this very spot Athelwold was slain by the king, was better than any
+document or history. It was an act which had been witnessed by many
+persons, and the memory of it preserved and handed down from father to
+son for thirty generations; for it must be borne in mind that the
+inhabitants of this district of Andover and the villages on the Test
+have never in the last thousand years been exterminated or expelled. And
+ten centuries is not so long for an event of so startling a character to
+persist in the memory of the people when we consider that such
+traditions have come down to us even from prehistoric times and have
+proved true. Our archæologists, for example, after long study of the
+remains, cannot tell us how long ago--centuries or thousands of years--a
+warrior with golden armour was buried under the great cairn at Mold in
+Flintshire.
+
+And now the curious part of all this matter comes in. Having taken my
+side in the controversy and made my pronouncement, I found that I was
+not yet free of it. It remained with me, but in a new way--not as an old
+story in old books, but as an event, or series of events, now being
+re-enacted before my very eyes. I actually saw and heard it all, from
+the very beginning to the dreadful end; and this is what I am now going
+to relate. But whether or not I shall in my relation be in close accord
+with what history tells us I know not, nor does it matter in the least.
+For just as the religious mystic is exempt from the study of theology
+and the whole body of religious doctrine, and from all the observances
+necessary to those who in fear and trembling are seeking their
+salvation, even so those who have been brought to the _Gate of
+Remembrance_ are independent of written documents, chronicles and
+histories, and of the weary task of separating the false from the true.
+They have better sources of information. For I am not so vain as to
+imagine for one moment that without such external aid I am able to make
+shadows breathe, revive the dead, and know what silent mouths once said.
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+When, sitting at noon in the shade of an oak tree at Dead Man's Plack, I
+beheld Edgar, I almost ceased to wonder at the miracle that had happened
+in this war-mad, desolated England, where Saxon and Dane, like two
+infuriated bull-dogs, were everlastingly at grips, striving to tear each
+other's throats out, and deluging the country with blood; how, ceasing
+from their strife, they had all at once agreed to live in peace and
+unity side by side under the young king; and this seemingly unnatural
+state of things endured even to the end of his life, on which account he
+was called Edgar the Peaceful.
+
+He was beautiful in person and had infinite charm, and these gifts,
+together with his kingly qualities, which have won the admiration of all
+men of all ages, endeared him to his people. He was but thirteen when he
+came to be king of united England, and small for his age, but even in
+these terrible times he was remarkable for his courage, both physical
+and moral. Withal he had a subtle mind; indeed, I think he surpassed all
+our kings of the past thousand years in combining so many excellent
+qualities. His was the wisdom of the serpent combined with the
+gentleness--I will not say of the dove, but rather of the cat, our
+little tiger on the hearthrug, the most beautiful of four-footed things,
+so lithe, so soft, of so affectionate a disposition, yet capable when
+suddenly roused to anger of striking with lightning rapidity and rending
+the offender's flesh with its cruel, unsheathed claws.
+
+Consider the line he took, even as a boy! He recognised among all those
+who surrounded him, in his priestly adviser, the one man of so great a
+mind as to be capable of assisting him effectually in ruling so divided,
+war-loving and revengeful a people, and he allowed him practically
+unlimited power to do as he liked. He went even further by pretending to
+fall in with Dunstan's ambitions of purging the Church of the order of
+priests or half-priests, or canons, who were in possession of most of
+the religious houses in England, and were priests that married wives and
+owned lands and had great power. Against this monstrous state of things
+Edgar rose up in his simulated wrath and cried out to Archbishop Dunstan
+in a speech he delivered to sweep them away and purify the Church and
+country from such a scandal!
+
+But Edgar himself had a volcanic heart, and to witness it in full
+eruption it was only necessary to convey to him the tidings of some
+woman of a rare loveliness; and have her he would, in spite of all laws
+human and divine. Thus when inflamed with passion for a beautiful nun he
+did not hesitate to smash the gates of a convent to drag her forth and
+forcibly make her his mistress. And this too was a dreadful scandal, but
+no great pother could be made about it, seeing that Edgar was so
+powerful a friend of the Church and of pure religion.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Now all the foregoing is contained in the histories, but in what follows
+I have for sole light and guide the vision that came to me at Dead Man's
+Plack, and have only to add to this introductory note that Edgar at the
+early age of twenty-two was a widower, having already had to wife
+Ethelfled the Fair, who was famous for her beauty, and who died shortly
+after giving birth to a child who lived to figure later in history as
+one of England's many Edwards.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+Now although King Edgar had dearly loved his wife, who was also beloved
+by all his people on account of her sweet and gentle disposition as well
+as of her exceeding beauty, it was not in his nature to brood long over
+such a loss. He had too keen a zest for life and the many interests and
+pleasures it had for him ever to become a melancholy man. It was a
+delight to him to be king, and to perform all kingly duties and offices.
+Also he was happy in his friends, especially in his favourite, the Earl
+Athelwold, who was like him in character, a man after his own heart.
+They were indeed like brothers, and some of those who surrounded the
+king were not too well pleased to witness this close intimacy. Both were
+handsome men, witty, of a genial disposition, yet under a light careless
+manner brave and ardent, devoted to the pleasure of the chase and all
+other pleasures, especially to those bestowed by golden Aphrodite, their
+chosen saint, albeit her name did not figure in the Calendar.
+
+Hence it was not strange, when certain reports of the wonderful beauty
+of a woman in the West Country were brought to Edgar's ears that his
+heart began to burn within him, and that by and by he opened himself to
+his friend on the subject. He told Athelwold that he had discovered the
+one woman in England fit to be Ethelfled's successor, and that he had
+resolved to make her his queen although he had never seen her, since she
+and her father had never been to court. That, however, would not deter
+him; there was no other woman in the land whose claims were equal to
+hers, seeing that she was the only daughter and part heiress of one of
+the greatest men in the kingdom, Ongar, Earldoman of Devon and Somerset,
+a man of vast possessions and great power. Yet all that was of less
+account to him than her fame, her personal worth, since she was reputed
+to be the most beautiful woman in the land. It was for her beauty that
+he desired her, and being of an exceedingly impatient temper in any case
+in which beauty in a woman was concerned, he desired his friend to
+proceed at once to Earl Ongar in Devon with an offer of marriage to his
+daughter, Elfrida, from the king.
+
+Athelwold laughed at Edgar in this his most solemn and kingly mood, and
+with a friend's privilege told him not to be so simple as to buy a pig
+in a poke. The lady, he said, had not been to court, consequently she
+had not been seen by those best able to judge of her reputed beauty. Her
+fame rested wholly on the report of the people of her own country, who
+were great as every one knew at blowing their own trumpets. Their red
+and green county was England's paradise; their men the bravest and
+handsomest and their women the most beautiful in the land. For his part
+he believed there were as good men and as fair women in Mercia and East
+Anglia as in the West. It would certainly be an awkward business if the
+king found himself bound in honour to wed with a person he did not like.
+Awkward because of her father's fierce pride and power. A better plan
+would be to send some one he could trust not to make a mistake to find
+out the truth of the report.
+
+Edgar was pleased at his friend's wise caution, and praised him for his
+candour, which was that of a true friend, and as he was the only man he
+could thoroughly trust in such a matter he would send him. Accordingly,
+Athelwold, still much amused at Edgar's sudden wish to make an offer of
+marriage to a woman he had never seen, set out on his journey in great
+state with many attendants as befitted his person and his mission, which
+was ostensibly to bear greetings and loving messages from the king to
+some of his most important subjects in the West Country.
+
+In this way he travelled through Wilts, Somerset and Devon, and in due
+time arrived at Earl Ongar's castle on the Exe.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+Athelwold, who thought highly of himself, had undertaken his mission
+with a light heart, but now when his progress in the West had brought
+him to the great earldoman's castle it was borne in on him that he had
+put himself in a very responsible position. He was here to look at this
+woman with cold, critical eyes, which was easy enough; and having looked
+at and measured and weighed her, he would make a true report to Edgar;
+that too would be easy for him, since all his power and happiness in
+life depended on the king's continual favour. But Ongar stood between
+him and the woman he had come to see and take stock of with that clear
+unbiassed judgment which he could safely rely on. And Ongar was a proud
+and stern old man, jealous of his great position, who had not hesitated
+to say on Edgar's accession to the kingship, knowing well that his words
+would be reported in due time, that he refused to be one of the crowd
+who came flocking from all over the land to pay homage to a boy. It thus
+came about that neither then nor at any subsequent period had there been
+any personal relations between the king and this English subject, who
+was prouder than all the Welsh kings who had rushed at Edgar's call to
+make their submission.
+
+But now when Ongar had been informed that the king's intimate friend and
+confidant was on his way to him with greetings and loving messages from
+Edgar, he was flattered, and resolved to receive him in a friendly and
+loyal spirit and do him all the honour in his power. For Edgar was no
+longer a boy: he was king over all this hitherto turbulent realm, East
+and West from sea to sea and from the Land's End to the Tweed, and the
+strange enduring peace of the times was a proof of his power.
+
+It thus came to pass that Athelwold's mission was made smooth to him,
+and when they met and conversed, the fierce old Earl was so well pleased
+with his visitor, that all trace of the sullen hostility he had
+cherished towards the court passed away like the shadow of a cloud. And
+later, in the banqueting-room, Athelwold came face to face with the
+woman he had come to look at with cold, critical eyes, like one who
+examines a horse in the interests of a friend who desires to become its
+purchaser.
+
+Down to that fatal moment the one desire of his heart was to serve his
+friend faithfully in this delicate business. Now, the first sight of
+her, the first touch of her hand, wrought a change in him, and all
+thought of Edgar and of the purpose of his visit vanished out of his
+mind. Even he, one of the great nobles of his time, the accomplished
+courtier and life of the court, stood silent like a person spell-bound
+before this woman who had been to no court, but had lived always with
+that sullen old man in comparative seclusion in a remote province. It
+was not only the beautiful dignity and graciousness with which she
+received him, with the exquisite beauty in the lines and colour of her
+face, and her hair which, if unloosed, would have covered her to the
+knees as with a splendid mantle. That hair of a colour comparable only
+to that of the sweet gale when that sweet plant is in its golden withy
+or catkin stage in the month of May, and is clothed with catkins as with
+a foliage of a deep shining red gold, that seems not a colour of earth
+but rather one distilled from the sun itself. Nor was it the colour of
+her eyes, the deep pure blue of the lungwort, that blue loveliness seen
+in no other flower on earth. Rather it was the light from her eyes which
+was like lightning that pierced and startled him; for that light, that
+expression, was a living spirit looking through his eyes into the depths
+of his soul, knowing all its strength and weakness, and in the same
+instant resolving to make it her own and have dominion over it.
+
+It was only when he had escaped from the power and magic of her
+presence, when alone in his sleeping room, that reflection came to him
+and the recollection of Edgar and of his mission. And there was dismay
+in the thought. For the woman was his, part and parcel of his heart and
+soul and life; for that was what her lightning glance had said to him,
+and she could not be given to another. No, not to the king! Had any man,
+any friend, ever been placed in so terrible a position? Honour? Loyalty?
+To whichever side he inclined he could not escape the crime, the base
+betrayal and abandonment! But loyalty to the king would be the greater
+crime. Had not Edgar himself broken every law of God and man to gratify
+his passion for a woman? Not a woman like this! Never would Edgar look
+on her until he, Athelwold, had obeyed her and his own heart and made
+her his for ever! And what would come then! He would not consider it--he
+would perish rather than yield her to another!
+
+That was how the question came before him, and how it was settled,
+during the long sleepless hours when his blood was in a fever and his
+brain on fire; but when day dawned and his blood grew cold and his brain
+was tired, the image of Edgar betrayed and in a deadly rage became
+insistent, and he rose desponding and in dread of the meeting to come.
+And no sooner did he meet her than she overcame him as on the previous
+day; and so it continued during the whole period of his visit, racked
+with passion, drawn now to this side, now to that, and when he was most
+resolved to have her then most furiously assaulted by loyalty, by
+friendship, by honour, and he was like a stag at bay fighting for his
+life against the hounds. And every time he met her--and the passionate
+words he dared not speak were like confined fire, burning him up
+inwardly--seeing him pale and troubled she would greet him with a smile
+and look which told him she knew that he was troubled in heart, that a
+great conflict was raging in him, also that it was on her account and
+was perhaps because he had already bound himself to some other woman,
+some great lady of the land; and now this new passion had come to him.
+And her smile and look were like the world-irradiating sun when it
+rises, and the black menacing cloud that brooded over his soul would
+fade and vanish, and he knew that she had again claimed him and that he
+was hers.
+
+So it continued till the very moment of parting, and again as on their
+first meeting he stood silent and troubled before her; then in faltering
+words told her that the thought of her would travel and be with him;
+that in a little while, perhaps in a month or two, he would be rid of a
+great matter which had been weighing heavily on his mind, and once free
+he could return to Devon, if she would consent to his paying her another
+visit.
+
+She replied smilingly with gracious words, with no change from that
+exquisite perfect dignity which was always hers; nor tremor in her
+speech, but only that understanding look from her eyes, which said: Yes,
+you shall come back to me in good time, when you have smoothed the way,
+to claim me for your own.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+On Athelwold's return the king embraced him warmly, and was quick to
+observe a change in him--the thinner, paler face and appearance
+generally of one lately recovered from a grievous illness or who had
+been troubled in mind. Athelwold explained that it had been a painful
+visit to him, due in the first place to the anxiety he experienced of
+being placed in so responsible a position, and in the second place the
+misery it was to him to be the guest for many days of such a person as
+the earldoman, a man of a rough, harsh aspect and manner, who daily made
+himself drunk at table, after which he would grow intolerably garrulous
+and boastful. Then, when his host had been carried to bed by his
+servants, his own wakeful, troubled hours would begin. For at first he
+had been struck by the woman's fine, handsome presence, albeit she was
+not the peerless beauty she had been reported; but when he had seen her
+often and more closely and had conversed with her he had been
+disappointed. There was something lacking; she had not the softness, the
+charm, desirable in a woman; she had something of her parent's
+harshness, and his final judgment was that she was not a suitable person
+for the king to marry.
+
+Edgar was a little cast down at first, but quickly recovering his genial
+manner, thanked his friend for having served him so well.
+
+For several weeks following the king and the king's favourite were
+constantly together; and during that period Athelwold developed a
+peculiar sweetness and affection towards Edgar, often recalling to him
+their happy boyhood's days in East Anglia, when they were like brothers,
+and cemented the close friendship which was to last them for the whole
+of their lives. Finally, when it seemed to his watchful, crafty mind
+that Edgar had cast the whole subject of his wish to marry Elfrida into
+oblivion, and that the time was now ripe for carrying out his own
+scheme, he reopened the subject, and said that although the lady was not
+a suitable person to be the king's wife it would be good policy on his,
+Athelwold's, part, to win her on account of her position as only
+daughter and part heiress of Ongar, who had great power and possessions
+in the West. But he would not move in the matter without Edgar's
+consent.
+
+Edgar, ever ready to do anything to please his friend, freely gave it,
+and only asked him to give an assurance that the secret object of his
+former visit to Devon would remain inviolate. Accordingly Athelwold took
+a solemn oath that it would never be revealed, and Edgar then slapped
+him on the back and wished him Godspeed in his wooing.
+
+Very soon after thus smoothing the way, Athelwold returned to Devon, and
+was once more in the presence of the woman who had so enchanted him,
+with that same meaning smile on her lips and light in her eyes which had
+been her good-bye and her greeting, only now it said to him: You have
+returned as I knew you would, and I am ready to give myself to you.
+
+From every point of view it was a suitable union, seeing that Athelwold
+would inherit power and great possessions from his father, Earldoman of
+East Anglia, and before long the marriage took place, and by and by
+Athelwold took his wife to Wessex, to the castle he had built for
+himself on his estate of Wherwell, on the Test. There they lived
+together, and as they had married for love they were happy.
+
+But as the king's intimate friend and the companion of many of his
+frequent journeys he could not always bide with her nor be with her for
+any great length of time. For Edgar had a restless spirit and was
+exceedingly vigilant, and liked to keep a watchful eye on the different
+lately hostile nations of Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria, so that
+his journeys were frequent and long to these distant parts of his
+kingdom. And he also had his naval forces to inspect at frequent
+intervals. Thus it came about that he was often absent from her for
+weeks and months at a stretch. And so the time went on, and during these
+long absences a change would come over Elfrida; the lovely colour, the
+enchanting smile, the light of her eyes--the outward sign of an intense
+brilliant life--would fade, and with eyes cast down she would pace the
+floors or the paths or sit brooding in silence by the hour.
+
+Of all this Athelwold knew nothing, since she made no complaint, and
+when he returned to her the light and life and brilliance would be hers
+again, and there was no cloud or shadow on his delight. But the cloud
+would come back over her when he again went away. Her only relief in her
+condition was to sit before a fire or when out of doors to seat herself
+on the bank of the stream and watch the current. For although it was
+still summer, the month being August, she would have a fire of logs
+lighted in a large chamber and sit staring at the flames by the hour,
+and sometimes holding her outstretched hands before the flames until
+they were hot, she would then press them to her lips. Or when the day
+was warm and bright she would be out of doors and spend hours by the
+river gazing at the swift crystal current below as if fascinated by the
+sight of the running water. It is a marvellously clear water, so that
+looking down on it you can see the rounded pebbles in all their various
+colours and markings lying at the bottom, and if there should be a trout
+lying there facing the current and slowly waving his tail from side to
+side, you could count the red spots on his side, so clear is the water.
+Even more did the floating water-grass hold her gaze--that bright green
+grass that, rooted in the bed of the stream, sends its thin blades to
+the surface where they float and wave like green floating hair.
+Stooping, she would dip a hand in the stream and watch the bright clear
+water running through the fingers of her white hand, then press the hand
+to her lips.
+
+Then again when day declined she would quit the stream to sit before the
+blazing logs, staring at the flames. What am I doing here? she would
+murmur. And what is this my life? When I was at home in Devon I had a
+dream of Winchester, of Salisbury, or other great towns further away,
+where the men and women who are great in the land meet together, and
+where my eyes would perchance sometimes have the happiness to behold the
+king himself--my husband's close friend and companion. My waking has
+brought a different scene before me; this castle in the wilderness, a
+solitude where from an upper window I look upon leagues of forest, a
+haunt of wild animals. I see great birds soaring in the sky and listen
+to the shrill screams of kite and buzzard; and sometimes when lying
+awake on a still night the distant long howl of a wolf. Also, it is
+said, there are great stags, and roe-deer, and wild boars, and it is
+Athelwold's joy to hunt them and slay them with his spear. A joy too
+when he returns from the hunt or from a long absence to play with his
+beautiful wife--his caged bird of pretty feathers and a sweet song to
+soothe him when he is tired. But of his life at court he tells me
+little, and of even that little I doubt the truth. Then he leaves me and
+I am alone with his retainers--the crowd of serving men and women and
+the armed men to safeguard me. I am alone with my two friends which I
+have found, one out of doors, the other in--the river which runs at the
+bottom of the ground where I take my walks, and the fire I sit before.
+The two friends, companions, and lovers to whom all the secrets of my
+soul are confided. I love them, having no other in the world to love,
+and here I hold my hands before the flames until it is hot and then kiss
+the heat, and by the stream I kiss my wetted hands. And if I were to
+remain here until this life became unendurable I should consider as to
+which one of these two lovers I should give myself. This one I think is
+too ardent in his love--it would be terrible to be wrapped round in his
+fiery arms and feel his fiery mouth on mine. I should rather go to the
+other one to lie down on his pebbly bed, and give myself to him to hold
+me in his cool, shining arms and mix his green hair with my loosened
+hair. But my wish is to live and not die. Let me then wait a little
+longer; let me watch and listen, and perhaps some day, by and by, from
+his own lips, I shall capture the secret of this my caged solitary life.
+
+And the very next day Athelwold, having just returned with the king to
+Salisbury, was once more with her; and the brooding cloud had vanished
+from her life and countenance; she was once more his passionate bride,
+lavishing caresses on him, listening with childish delight to every word
+that fell from his lips, and desiring no other life and no greater
+happiness than this.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+It was early September, and the king with some of the nobles who were
+with him, after hunting the deer over against Cranbourne, returned at
+evening to Salisbury, and after meat with some of his intimates they sat
+late drinking wine and fell into a merry, boisterous mood. They spoke of
+Athelwold, who was not with them, and indulged in some mocking remarks
+about his frequent and prolonged absences from the king's company. Edgar
+took it in good part and smilingly replied that it had been reported to
+him that the earl was now wedded to a woman with a will. Also he knew
+that her father, the great Earldoman of Devon, had been famed for his
+tremendous physical strength. It was related of him that he had once
+been charged by a furious bull, that he had calmly waited the onset and
+had dealt the animal a staggering blow with his fist on its head and had
+then taken it up in his arms and hurled it into the river Exe. If, he
+concluded, the daughter had inherited something of this power it was not
+to be wondered at that she was able to detain her husband at home.
+
+Loud laughter followed this pleasantry of the king's, then one of the
+company remarked that not a woman's will, though it might be like steel
+of the finest temper, nor her muscular power, would serve to change
+Athelwold's nature or keep him from his friend, but only a woman's
+exceeding beauty.
+
+Then Edgar, seeing that he had been put upon the defence of his absent
+friend, and that all of them were eager to hear his next word, replied
+that there was no possession a man was prouder of than that of a
+beautiful wife; that it was more to him than his own best qualities, his
+greatest actions, or than titles and lands and gold. If Athelwold had
+indeed been so happy as to secure the most beautiful woman he would have
+been glad to bring her to court to exhibit her to all--friends and foes
+alike--for his own satisfaction and glory.
+
+Again they greeted his speech with laughter, and one cried out: Do you
+believe it?
+
+Then another, bolder still, exclaimed: It's God's truth that she is the
+fairest woman in the land--perhaps no fairer has been in any land since
+Helen of Troy. This I can swear to, he added, smiting the board with his
+hand, because I have it from one who saw her at her home in Devon before
+her marriage. One who is a better judge in such matters than I am or
+than any one at this table, not excepting the king, seeing that he is
+not only gifted with the serpent's wisdom but with that creature's cold
+blood as well.
+
+Edgar heard him frowningly, then ended the discussion by rising, and
+silence fell on the company, for all saw that he was offended. But he
+was not offended with them, since they knew nothing of his and
+Athelwold's secret, and what they thought and felt about his friend was
+nothing to him. But these fatal words about Elfrida's beauty had pierced
+him with a sudden suspicion of his friend's treachery. And Athelwold was
+the man he greatly loved--the companion of all his years since their
+boyhood together. Had he betrayed him in this monstrous way--wounding
+him in his tenderest part? The very thought that such a thing might be
+was like a madness in him. Then he reflected--then he remembered, and
+said to himself: Yes, let me follow his teaching in this matter too, as
+in the other, and exercise caution and look before I leap. I shall look
+and look well and see and judge for myself.
+
+The result was that when his boon companions next met him there was no
+shadow of displeasure in him; he was in a peculiarly genial mood, and so
+continued. And when his friend returned he embraced him and gently
+upbraided him for having kept away for so long a time. He begged him to
+remember that he was his one friend and confidant who was more than a
+brother to him, and that if wholly deprived of his company he would
+regard himself as the loneliest man in the kingdom. Then in a short time
+he spoke once more in the same strain, and said he had not yet
+sufficiently honoured his friend before the world, and that he proposed
+visiting him at his own castle to make the acquaintance of his wife and
+spend a day with him hunting the boar in Harewood Forest.
+
+Athelwold, secretly alarmed, made a suitable reply, expressing his
+delight at the prospect of receiving the king, and begging him to give
+him a couple of days' notice before making his visit, so as to give him
+time to make all preparation for his entertainment.
+
+This the king promised, and also said that this would be an informal
+visit to a friend, that he would go alone with some of his servants and
+huntsmen and ride there one day, hunt the next day and return to
+Salisbury on the third day. And a little later, when the day of his
+visit was fixed on, Athelwold returned in haste with an anxious mind to
+his castle.
+
+Now his hard task and the most painful moment of his life had come.
+Alone with Elfrida in her chamber he cast himself down before her, and
+with his bowed head resting on her knees, made a clean breast of the
+whole damning story of the deceit he had practised towards the king in
+order to win her for himself. In anguish and shedding tears he implored
+her forgiveness, begging her to think of that irresistible power of love
+she had inspired in him, which would have made it worse than death to
+see her the wife of another--even of Edgar himself--his friend, the
+brother of his soul. Then he went on to speak of Edgar, who was of a
+sweet and lovable nature, yet capable of a deadly fury against those who
+offended him; and this was an offence he would take more to heart than
+any other; he would be implacable if he once thought that he had been
+wilfully deceived, and she only could now save them from certain
+destruction. For now it seemed to him that Edgar had conceived a
+suspicion that the account he had of her was not wholly true, which was
+that she was a handsome woman but not surpassingly beautiful as had been
+reputed, not graceful, not charming in manner and conversation. She
+could save them by justifying his description of her--by using a woman's
+art to lessen instead of enhancing her natural beauty, by putting away
+her natural charm and power to fascinate all who approached her.
+
+Thus he pleaded, praying for mercy, even as a captive prays to his
+conqueror for life, and never once daring to lift his bowed head to look
+at her face; while she sat motionless and silent, not a word, not a
+sigh, escaping her; and she was like a woman carved in stone, with knees
+of stone on which his head rested.
+
+Then, at length, exhausted with his passionate pleading and frightened
+at her silence and deadly stillness, he raised his head and looked up at
+her face to behold it radiant and smiling. Then, looking down lovingly
+into his eyes, she raised her hands to her head, and loosening the great
+mass of coiled tresses let them fall over him, covering his head and
+shoulders and back as with a splendid mantle of shining red gold. And
+he, the awful fear now gone, continued silently gazing up at her,
+absorbed in her wonderful loveliness.
+
+Bending down she put her arms round his neck and spoke: Do you not know,
+O Athelwold, that I love you alone and could love no other, noble or
+king; that without you life would not be life to me? All you have told
+me endears you more to me, and all you wish me to do shall be done,
+though it may cause your king and friend to think meanly of you for
+having given your hand to one so little worthy of you.
+
+She having thus spoken, he was ready to pour forth his gratitude in
+burning words, but she would not have it. No more words, she said,
+putting her hand on his mouth. Your anxious day is over--your burden
+dropped. Rest here on the couch by my side, and let me think on all
+there is to plan and do against to-morrow evening.
+
+And so they were silent, and he, reclining on the cushions, watched her
+face and saw her smile and wondered what was passing in her mind to
+cause that smile. Doubtless it was something to do with the question of
+her disguising arts.
+
+What had caused her to smile was a happy memory of the days with
+Athelwold before their marriage, when one day he came in to her with a
+leather bag in his hand and said: Do you, who are so beautiful yourself,
+love all beautiful things? And do you love the beauty of gems? And when
+she replied that she loved gems above all beautiful things, he poured
+out the contents of his bag in her lap--brilliants, sapphires, rubies,
+emeralds, opals, pearls in gold setting, in bracelets, necklets,
+pendants, rings and brooches. And when she gloated over this splendid
+gift, taking up gem after gem, exclaiming delightedly at its size and
+colour and lustre, he told her that he once knew a man who maintained
+that it was a mistake for a beautiful woman to wear gems. Why? she
+asked, would he have then wholly unadorned? No, he replied, he liked to
+see them wearing gold, saying that gold makes the most perfect setting
+for a woman's beauty, just as it does for a precious stone, and its
+effect is to enhance the beauty it surrounds. But the woman's beauty has
+its meeting and central point in the eyes, and the light and soul in
+them illumines the whole face. And in the stone nature simulates the
+eye, and although without a soul its brilliant light and colour make it
+the equal of the eye, and therefore when worn as an ornament it competes
+with the eye, and in effect lessens the beauty it is supposed to
+enhance. He said that gems should be worn only by women who are not
+beautiful, who must rely on something extraneous to attract attention,
+since it would be better to a homely woman that men should look at her
+to admire a diamond or sapphire than not to look at her at all. She had
+laughed and asked him who the man was who had such strange ideas, and he
+had replied that he had forgotten his name.
+
+Now, recalling this incident after so long a time, it all at once
+flashed into her mind that Edgar was the man he had spoken of; she knew
+now because, always secretly watchful, she had noted that he never spoke
+of Edgar or heard Edgar spoken of without a slight subtle change in the
+expression of his face, also, if he spoke, in the tone of his voice. It
+was the change that comes into the face, and into the tone, when one
+remembers or speaks of the person most loved in all the world. And she
+remembered now that he had that changed expression and tone of voice,
+when he had spoken of the man whose name he pretended to have forgotten.
+
+And while she sat thinking of this it grew dark in the room, the light
+of the fire having died down. Then presently, in the profound stillness
+of the room, she heard the sound of his deep, regular breathing and knew
+that he slept, and that it was a sweet sleep after his anxious day.
+Going softly to the hearth she moved the yet still glowing logs, until
+they sent up a sudden flame and the light fell upon the sleeper's still
+face. Turning, she gazed steadily at it--the face of the man who had won
+her; but her own face in the firelight was white and still and wore a
+strange expression. Now she moved noiselessly to his side and bent down
+as if to whisper in his ear, but suddenly drew back again and moved
+towards the door, then turning gazed once more at his face and murmured:
+No, no, even a word faintly whispered would bring him a dream, and it is
+better his sleep should be dreamless. For now he has had his day and it
+is finished, and to-morrow is mine.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+On the following day Athelwold was occupied with preparations for the
+king's reception and for the next day's boar-hunt in the forest. At the
+same time he was still somewhat anxious as to his wife's more difficult
+part, and from time to time he came to see and consult with her. He then
+observed a singular change in her, both in her appearance and conduct.
+No longer the radiant, loving Elfrida, her beauty now had been dimmed
+and she was unsmiling and her manner towards him repellant. She had
+nothing to say to him except that she wished him to leave her alone.
+Accordingly he withdrew, feeling a little hurt, and at the same time
+admiring her extraordinary skill in disguising her natural loveliness
+and charm, but almost fearing that she was making too great a change in
+her appearance.
+
+Thus passed the day, and in the late afternoon Edgar duly arrived, and
+when he had rested a little, was conducted to the banqueting-room, where
+the meeting with Elfrida would take place.
+
+Then Elfrida came, and Athelwold hastened to the entrance to take her
+hand and conduct her to the king; then, seeing her, he stood still and
+stared in silent astonishment and dismay at the change he saw in her,
+for never before had he beheld her so beautiful, so queenly and
+magnificent. What did it mean--did she wish to destroy him? Seeing the
+state he was in she placed her hand in his, and murmured softly: I know
+best. And so, holding her hand, he conducted her to the king, who stood
+waiting to receive her. For all she had done that day to please and to
+deceive him had now been undone, and everything that had been possible
+had been done to enhance her loveliness. She had arrayed herself in a
+violet-coloured silk gown with a network of gold thread over the body
+and wide sleeves to the elbows, and rope of gold round her waist with
+its long ends falling to her knee. The great mass of her coiled hair was
+surmounted with a golden comb, and golden pendants dropped from her ears
+to her shoulders. Also she wore gold armlets coiled serpent-wise round
+her white arms from elbow to wrist. Not a gem--nothing but pale yellow
+gold.
+
+Edgar himself was amazed at her loveliness, for never had he seen
+anything comparable to it; and when he gazed into her eyes she did not
+lower hers, but returned gaze for gaze, and there was that in her eyes
+and their strange eloquence which kindled a sudden flame of passion in
+his heart, and for a moment it appeared in his countenance. Then,
+quickly recovering himself, he greeted her graciously but with his usual
+kingly dignity of manner, and for the rest of the time he conversed with
+her and Athelwold in such a pleasant and friendly way that his host
+began to recover somewhat from his apprehensions. But in his heart Edgar
+was saying: And this is the woman that Athelwold, the close friend of
+all my days, from boyhood until now, the one man in the world I loved
+and trusted, has robbed me of!
+
+And Athelwold at the same time was revolving in his mind the mystery of
+Elfrida's action. What did she mean when she whispered to him that she
+knew best? And why, when she wished to appear in that magnificent way
+before the king, had she worn nothing but gold ornaments--not one of the
+splendid gems of which she possessed such a store?
+
+She had remembered something which he had forgotten.
+
+Now when the two friends were left alone together drinking wine,
+Athelwold was still troubled in his mind, although his suspicion and
+fear were not so acute as at first, and the longer they sat
+talking--until the small hours--the more relieved did he feel from
+Edgar's manner towards him. Edgar in his cups opened his heart and was
+more loving and free in his speech than ever before. He loved Athelwold
+as he loved no one else in the world, and to see him great and happy was
+his first desire; and he congratulated him from his heart on having
+found a wife who was worthy of him and would eventually bring him,
+through her father, such great possessions as would make him the chief
+nobleman in the land. All happiness and glory to them both; and when a
+child was born to them he would be its godfather, and if happily by that
+time there was a queen, she should be its godmother.
+
+Then he recalled their happy boyhood's days in East Anglia, that joyful
+time when they first hunted and had many a mishap and fell from their
+horses when they pursued hare and deer and bustard in the wide open
+stretches of sandy country; and in the autumn and winter months when
+they were wild-fowling in the great level flooded lands where the geese
+and all wild-fowl came in clouds and myriads. And now he laughed and now
+his eyes grew moist at the recollection of the irrecoverable glad days.
+
+Little time was left for sleep; yet they were ready early next morning
+for the day's great boar-hunt in the forest, and only when the king was
+about to mount his horse did Elfrida make her appearance. She came out
+to him from the door, not richly dressed now, but in a simple white
+linen robe and not an ornament on her except that splendid crown of the
+red-gold hair on her head. And her face too was almost colourless now,
+and grave and still. She brought wine in a golden cup and gave it to the
+king, and he once more fixed his eyes on her and for some moments they
+continued silently gazing, each in that fixed gaze seeming to devour the
+secrets of the other's soul. Then she wished him a happy hunting, and he
+said in reply he hoped it would be the happiest hunting he had ever had.
+Then, after drinking the wine, he mounted his horse and rode away. And
+she remained standing very still, the cup in her hand, gazing after him
+as he rode side by side with Athelwold, until in the distance the trees
+hid him from her sight.
+
+Now when they had ridden a distance of three miles or more into the
+heart of the forest, they came to a broad drive-like stretch of green
+turf, and the king cried: This is just what I have been wishing for!
+Come, let us give our horses a good gallop. And when they loosened the
+reins, the horses, glad to have a race on such a ground, instantly
+sprang forward; but Edgar, keeping a tight rein, was presently left
+twenty or thirty yards behind; then, setting spurs to his horse, he
+dashed forward, and on coming abreast of his companion, drew his knife
+and struck him in the back, dealing the blow with such a concentrated
+fury that the knife was buried almost to the hilt. Then violently
+wrenching it out, he would have struck again had not the earl, with a
+scream of agony, tumbled from his seat. The horse, freed from its rider,
+rushed on in a sudden panic, and the king's horse side by side with it.
+Edgar, throwing himself back and exerting his whole strength, succeeded
+in bringing him to a stop at a distance of fifty or sixty yards, then
+turning, came riding back at a furious speed.
+
+Now when Athelwold fell, all those who were riding behind, the earl's
+and the king's men to the number of thirty or forty, dashed forward, and
+some of them, hurriedly dismounting, gathered about him as he lay
+groaning and writhing and pouring out his blood on the ground. But at
+the king's approach they drew quickly back to make way for him, and he
+came straight on and caused his horse to trample on the fallen man. Then
+pointing to him with the knife he still had in his hand, he cried: That
+is how I serve a false friend and traitor! Then, wiping the stained
+knife-blade on his horse's neck and sheathing it, he shouted: Back to
+Salisbury! and setting spurs to his horse, galloped off towards the
+Andover road.
+
+His men immediately mounted and followed, leaving the earl's men with
+their master. Lifting him up, they placed him on a horse, and with a
+mounted man on each side to hold him up, they moved back at a walking
+pace towards Wherwell.
+
+Messengers were sent ahead to inform Elfrida of what had happened, and
+then, an hour later, yet another messenger to tell that Athelwold, when
+half-way home, had breathed his last. Then at last the corpse was
+brought to the castle and she met it with tears and lamentations. But
+afterwards in her own chamber, when she had dismissed all her
+attendants, as she desired to weep alone, her grief changed to joy. O,
+glorious Edgar, she said, the time will come when you will know what I
+feel now, when at your feet, embracing your knees and kissing the
+blessed hand that with one blow has given me life and liberty. One blow
+and your revenge was satisfied and you had won me; I know it, I saw it
+all in that flame of love and fury in your eyes at our first meeting,
+which you permitted me to see, which, if he had seen, he would have
+known that he was doomed. O perfect master of dissimulation, all the
+more do I love and worship you for dealing with him as he dealt with you
+and with me; caressing him with flattering words until the moment came
+to strike and slay. And I love you all the more for making your horse
+trample on him as he lay bleeding his life out on the ground. And now
+you have opened the way with your knife you shall come back or call me
+to you when it pleases you, and for the rest of your life it will be a
+satisfaction to you to know that you have taken a modest woman as well
+as the fairest in the land for wife and queen, and your pride in me will
+be my happiness and glory. For men's love is little to me since
+Athelwold taught me to think meanly of all men, except you that slew
+him. And you shall be free to follow your own mind and be ever strenuous
+and vigilant and run after kingly pleasures, pursuing deer and wolf and
+beautiful women all over the land. And I shall listen to the tales of
+your adventures and conquests with a smile like that of a mother who
+sees her child playing seriously with its dolls and toys, talking to and
+caressing them. And in return you shall give me my desire, which is
+power and splendour; for these I crave, to be first and greatest, to
+raise up and cast down, and in all our life I shall be your help and
+stay in ruling this realm, so that our names may be linked together and
+shine in the annals of England for all time.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Edgar slew Athelwold his age was twenty-two, and before he was a
+year older he had married Elfrida, to the rage of that great man and
+primate and more than premier, who, under Edgar, virtually ruled
+England. And in his rage, and remembering how he had dealt with a
+previous boy king, whose beautiful young wife he had hounded to her
+dreadful end, he charged Elfrida with having instigated her husband's
+murder, and commanded the king to put that woman away. This roused the
+man and passionate lover, and the tiger in the man, in Edgar, and the
+wise and subtle-minded ecclesiastic quickly recognised that he had set
+himself against one of a will more powerful and dangerous than his own.
+He remembered that it was Edgar, who, when he had been deprived of his
+abbey and driven in disgrace from the land, had recalled and made him so
+great, and he knew that the result of a quarrel between them would be a
+mighty upheaval in the land and the sweeping away of all his great
+reforms. And so, cursing the woman in his heart and secretly vowing
+vengeance on her, he was compelled in the interests of the Church to
+acquiesce in this fresh crime of the king.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+Eight years had passed since the king's marriage with Elfrida, and the
+one child born to them was now seven, the darling of his parents,
+Ethelred the angelic child, who to the end of his long life would be
+praised for one thing only--his personal beauty. But Edward, his
+half-brother, now in his thirteenth year, was regarded by her with an
+almost equal affection, on account of his beauty and charm, his devotion
+to his step-mother, the only mother he had known, and, above all, for
+his love of his little half-brother. He was never happy unless he was
+with him, acting the part of guide and instructor as well as playfellow.
+
+Edgar had recently completed one of his great works, the building of
+Corfe Castle, and now whenever he was in Wessex preferred it as a
+residence, since he loved best that part of England with its wide moors
+and hunting forests, and its neighbourhood to the sea and to Portland
+and Poole water. He had been absent for many weeks on a journey to
+Northumbria, and the last tidings of his movements were that he was on
+his way to the south, travelling on the Welsh border, and intended
+visiting the Abbot of Glastonbury before returning to Dorset. This
+religious house was already very great in his day; he had conferred many
+benefits on it, and contemplated still others.
+
+It was summer time, a season of great heats, and Elfrida with the two
+little princes often went to the coast to spend a whole day in the open
+air by the sea. Her favourite spot was at the foot of a vast chalk down
+with a slight strip of woodland between its lowest slope and the beach.
+She was at this spot one day about noon where the trees were few and
+large, growing wide apart, and had settled herself on a pile of cushions
+placed at the roots of a big old oak tree, where from her seat she could
+look out over the blue expanse of water. But the hamlet and church close
+by on her left hand were hidden by the wood, though sounds issuing from
+it could be heard occasionally--shouts and bursts of laughter, and at
+times the music of a stringed instrument and a voice singing. These
+sounds came from her armed guard and other attendants who were speeding
+the idle hours of waiting in their own way, in eating and drinking and
+in games and dancing. Only two women remained to attend to her wants,
+and one armed man to keep watch and guard over the two boys at their
+play.
+
+They were not now far off, not above fifty yards, among the big trees;
+but for hours past they had been away out of her sight, racing on their
+ponies over the great down; then bathing in the sea, Edward teaching his
+little brother to swim; then he had given him lessons in tree-climbing,
+and now, tired of all these exertions, and for variety's sake, they were
+amusing themselves by standing on their heads. Little Ethelred had tried
+and failed repeatedly, then at last, with hands and head firmly planted
+on the sward, he had succeeded in throwing his legs up and keeping them
+in a vertical position for a few seconds, this feat being loudly
+applauded by his young instructor.
+
+Elfrida, who had witnessed this display from her seat, burst out
+laughing, then said to herself: O how I love these two beautiful boys
+almost with an equal love, albeit one is not mine! But Edward must be
+ever dear to me because of his sweetness and his love of me and, even
+more, his love and tender care of my darling. Yet am I not wholly free
+from an anxious thought of the distant future. Ah, no, let me not think
+of such a thing! This sweet child of a boy-father and girl-mother--the
+frail mother that died in her teens--he can never grow to be a proud,
+masterful, ambitious man--never aspire to wear his father's crown!
+Edgar's first-born, it is true, but not mine, and he can never be king.
+For Edgar and I are one; is it conceivable that he should oppose me in
+this--that we that are one in mind and soul shall at the last be divided
+and at enmity? Have we not said it an hundred times that we are one? One
+in all things except in passion. Yet this very coldness in me in which I
+differ from others is my chief strength and glory, and has made our two
+lives one life. And when he is tired and satiated with the common beauty
+and the common passions of other women he returns to me only to have his
+first love kindled afresh, and when in love and pity I give myself to
+him and am his bride afresh as when first he had my body in his arms, it
+is to him as if one of the immortals had stooped to a mortal, and he
+tells me I am the flower of womankind and of the world, that my white
+body is a perfect white flower, my hair a shining gold flower, my mouth
+a fragrant scarlet flower, and my eyes a sacred blue flower, surpassing
+all others in loveliness. And when I have satisfied him, and the tempest
+in his blood has abated, then for the rapture he has had I have mine,
+when, ashamed at his violence, as if it had been an insult to me, he
+covers his face with my hair and sheds tears of love and contrition on
+my breasts. O nothing can ever disunite us! Even from the first, before
+I ever saw him, when he was coming to me I knew that we were destined to
+be one. And he too knew it from the moment of seeing me, and knew that I
+knew it; and when he sat at meat with us and looked smilingly at the
+friend of his bosom and spoke merrily to him, and resolved at the same
+time to take his life, he knew that by so doing he would fulfil my
+desire, and as my knowledge of the betrayal was first, so the desire to
+shed that abhorred blood was in me first. Nevertheless, I cannot be free
+of all anxious thoughts, and fear too of my implacable enemy and
+traducer who from a distance watches all my movements, who reads Edgar's
+mind even as he would a book, and what he finds there writ by me he
+seeks to blot out; and thus does he ever thwart me. But though I cannot
+measure my strength against his, it will not always be so, seeing that
+he is old and I am young, with Time and Death on my side, who will like
+good and faithful servants bring him to the dust, so that my triumph
+must come. And when he is no more I shall have time to unbuild the
+structure he has raised with lies for stones and my name coupled with
+some evil deed cut in every stone. For I look ever to the future, even
+to the end to see this Edgar, with the light of life shining so brightly
+in him now, a venerable king with silver hair, his passions cool, his
+strength failing, leaning more heavily on me; until at last, persuaded
+by me, he will step down from the throne and resign his crown to our
+son--our Ethelred. And in him and his son after him, and in his son's
+sons we shall live still in their blood, and with them rule this kingdom
+of Edgar the Peaceful--a realm of everlasting peace.
+
+Thus she mused, until overcome by her swift, crowding thoughts and
+passions, love and hate, with memories dreadful or beautiful, of her
+past and strivings of her mind to pierce the future, she burst into a
+violent storm of tears so that her frame was shaken, and covering her
+eyes with her hands she strove to get the better of her agitation lest
+her weakness should be witnessed by her attendants. But when this
+tempest had left her and she lifted her eyes again, it seemed to her
+that the burning tears which had relieved her heart had also washed away
+some trouble that had been like a dimness on all visible nature, and
+earth and sea and sky were glorified as if the sunlight flooding the
+world fell direct from the heavenly throne, and she sat drinking in pure
+delight from the sight of it and the soft, warm air she breathed.
+
+Then, to complete her happiness, the silence that reigned around her was
+broken by a sweet, musical sound of a little bird that sang from the
+tree-top high above her head. This was the redstart, and the tree under
+which she sat was its singing-tree, to which it resorted many times a
+day to spend half an hour or so repeating its brief song at intervals of
+a few seconds--a small song that was like the song of the redbreast,
+subdued, refined and spiritualised, as of a spirit that lived within the
+tree.
+
+Listening to it in that happy, tender mood which had followed her tears,
+she gazed up and tried to catch sight of it, but could see nothing but
+the deep-cut, green, translucent, clustering oak leaves showing the blue
+of heaven and shining like emeralds in the sunlight. O sweet, blessed
+little bird, she said, are you indeed a bird? I think you are a
+messenger sent to assure me that all my hopes and dreams of the distant
+days to come will be fulfilled. Sing again and again and again; I could
+listen for hours to that selfsame song.
+
+But she heard it no more; the bird had flown away. Then, still
+listening, she caught a different sound--the loud hoof-beats of horses
+being ridden at furious speed towards the hamlet. Listening intently to
+that sound she heard, on its arrival at the hamlet, a sudden, great cry
+as if all the men gathered there had united their voices in one cry; and
+she stood up, and her women came to her, and all together stood silently
+gazing in that direction. Then the two boys who had been lying on the
+turf not far off came running to them and caught her by the hands, one
+on each side, and Edward, looking up at her white, still face, cried,
+Mother, what is it you fear? But she answered no word. Then again the
+sound of hoofs was heard and they knew the riders were now coming at a
+swift gallop to them. And in a few moments they appeared among the
+trees, and reining up their horses at a distance of some yards, one
+sprang to the ground, and advancing to the queen, made his obeisance,
+then told her he had been sent to inform her of Edgar's death. He had
+been seized by a sudden violent fever in Gloucestershire, on his way to
+Glastonbury, and had died after two days' illness. He had been
+unconscious all the time, but more than once he had cried out, On to
+Glastonbury! and now in obedience to that command his body was being
+conveyed thither for interment at the abbey.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+
+She had no tears to shed, no word to say, nor was there any sense of
+grief at her loss. She had loved him--once upon a time; she had always
+admired him for his better qualities; even his excessive pride and
+ostentation had been pleasing to her; finally she had been more than
+tolerant of his vices or weaknesses, regarding them as matters beneath
+her attention. Nevertheless, in their eight years of married life they
+had become increasingly repugnant to her stronger and colder nature. He
+had degenerated, bodily and mentally, and was not now like that shining
+one who had come to her at Wherwell Castle, who had not hesitated to
+strike the blow that had set her free. The tidings of his death had all
+at once sprung the truth on her mind that the old love was dead, that it
+had indeed been long dead, and that she had actually come to despise
+him.
+
+But what should she do--what be--without him! She had been his queen,
+loved to adoration, and he had been her shield; now she was alone, face
+to face with her bitter, powerful enemy. Now it seemed to her that she
+had been living in a beautiful peaceful land, a paradise of fruit and
+flowers and all delightful things; that in a moment, as by a miracle, it
+had turned to a waste of black ashes still hot and smoking from the
+desolating flames that had passed over it. But she was not one to give
+herself over to despondency so long as there was anything to be done.
+Very quickly she roused herself to action, and despatched messengers to
+all those powerful friends who shared her hatred of the great
+archbishop, and would be glad of the opportunity now offered of wresting
+the rule from his hands. Until now he had triumphed because he had had
+the king to support him even in his most arbitrary and tyrannical
+measures; now was the time to show a bold front, to proclaim her son as
+the right successor, and with herself, assisted by chosen councillors to
+direct her boy, the power would be in her hands, and once more, as in
+King Edwin's day, the great Dunstan, disgraced and denounced, would be
+compelled to fly from the country lest a more dreadful punishment should
+befall him. Finally, leaving the two little princes at Corfe Castle, she
+travelled to Mercia to be with and animate her powerful friends and
+fellow-plotters with her presence.
+
+All their plottings and movements were known to Dunstan, and he was too
+quick for them. Whilst they, divided among themselves, were debating and
+arranging their plans, he had called together all the leading bishops
+and councillors of the late king, and they had agreed that Edward must
+be proclaimed as the first-born; and although but a boy of thirteen, the
+danger to the country would not be so great as it would to give the
+succession to a child of seven years. Accordingly Edward was proclaimed
+king and removed from Corfe Castle while the queen was still absent in
+Mercia.
+
+For a while it looked as if this bold and prompt act on the part of
+Dunstan would have led to civil war; but a great majority of the nobles
+gave their adhesion to Edward, and Elfrida's friends soon concluded that
+they were not strong enough to set her boy up and try to overthrow
+Edward, or to divide England again between two boy kings as in Edwin and
+Edgar's early years.
+
+She accordingly returned discomfited to Corfe and to her child, now
+always crying for his beloved brother who had been taken from him; and
+there was not in all England a more miserable woman than Elfrida the
+queen. For after this defeat she could hope no more; her power was gone
+past recovery--all that had made her life beautiful and glorious was
+gone. Now Corfe was like that other castle at Wherwell, where Earl
+Athelwold had kept her like a caged bird for his pleasure when he
+visited her; only worse, since she was eight years younger then, her
+beauty fresher, her heart burning with secret hopes and ambitions, and
+the great world where there were towns and a king, and many noble men
+and women gathered round him yet to be known. And all these things had
+come to her and were now lost--now nothing was left but bitterest
+regrets and hatred of all those who had failed her at the last. Hatred
+first of all and above all of her great triumphant enemy, and hatred of
+the boy king she had loved with a mother's love until now, and cherished
+for many years. Hatred too of herself when she recalled the part she had
+recently played in Mercia, where she had not disdained to practise all
+her fascinating arts on many persons she despised in order to bind them
+to her cause, and had thereby given cause to her monkish enemy to charge
+her with immodesty. It was with something like hatred too that she
+regarded her own child when he would come crying to her, begging her to
+take him to his beloved brother; carried away with sudden rage, she
+would strike and thrust him violently from her, then order her women to
+take him away and keep him out of her sight.
+
+Three years had gone by, during which she had continued living alone at
+Corfe, still under a cloud and nursing her bitter revengeful feeling in
+her heart, until that fatal afternoon on the eighteenth day of March,
+978.
+
+The young king, now in his seventeenth year, had come to these favourite
+hunting-grounds of his late father, and was out hunting on that day. He
+had lost sight of his companions in a wood or thicket of thorn and
+furze, and galloping in search of them he came out from the wood on the
+further side; and there before him, not a mile away, was Corfe Castle,
+his old beloved home, and the home still of the two beings he loved best
+in the world--his step-mother and his little half-brother. And although
+he had been sternly warned that they were his secret enemies, that it
+would be dangerous to hold any intercourse with them, the sight of the
+castle and his craving to look again on their dear faces overcame his
+scruples. There would be no harm, no danger to him and no great
+disobedience on his part to ride to the gates and see and greet them
+without dismounting.
+
+When Elfrida was told that Edward himself was at the gates calling to
+her and Ethelred to come out to him she became violently excited, and
+cried out that God himself was on her side, and had delivered the boy
+into her hands. She ordered her servants to go out and persuade him to
+come in to her, to take away his horse as soon as he had dismounted, and
+not to allow him to leave the castle. Then, when they returned to say
+the king refused to dismount and again begged them to go to him, she
+went to the gates, but without the boy, and greeted him joyfully, while
+he, glad at the meeting, bent down and embraced her and kissed her face.
+But when she refused to send for Ethelred, and urged him persistently to
+dismount and come in to see his little brother who was crying for him,
+he began to notice the extreme excitement which burned in her eyes and
+made her voice tremble, and beginning to fear some design against him,
+he refused again more firmly to obey her wish; then she, to gain time,
+sent for wine for him to drink before parting from her. And during all
+this time while his departure was being delayed, her people, men and
+women, had been coming out until, sitting on his horse, he was in the
+midst of a crowd, and these too all looked on him with excited faces,
+which increased his apprehension, so that when he had drunk the wine he
+all at once set spurs to his horse to break away from among them. Then
+she, looking at her men, cried out: Is this the way you serve me? And no
+sooner had the words fallen from her lips than one man bounded forward,
+like a hound on its quarry, and coming abreast of the horse, dealt the
+king a blow with his knife in the side. The next moment the horse and
+rider were free of the crowd and rushing away over the moor. A cry of
+horror had burst from the women gathered there when the blow was struck;
+now all were silent, watching with white, scared faces as he rode
+swiftly away. Then presently they saw him swerve on his horse, then
+fall, with his right foot still remaining caught in the stirrup, and
+that the panic-stricken horse was dragging him at furious speed over the
+rough moor.
+
+Only then the queen spoke, and in an agitated voice told them to mount
+and follow; and charged them that if they overtook the horse and found
+that the king had been killed, to bury the body where it would not be
+found, so that the manner of his death should not be known.
+
+When the men returned they reported that they had found the dead body of
+the king a mile away, where the horse had got free of it, and they had
+buried it in a thicket where it would never be discovered.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+
+When Edward in sudden terror set spurs to his horse: when at the same
+moment a knife flashed out and the fatal blow was delivered, Elfrida
+too, like the other women witnesses in the crowd, had uttered a cry of
+horror. But once the deed was accomplished and the assurance received
+that the body had been hidden where it would never be found, the feeling
+experienced at the spectacle was changed to one of exultation. For now
+at last, after three miserable years of brooding on her defeat, she had
+unexpectedly triumphed, and it was as if she already had her foot set on
+her enemies' necks. For now her boy would be king--happily there was no
+other candidate in the field; now her great friends from all over the
+land would fly to her aid, and with them for her councillors she would
+practically be the ruler during the king's long minority.
+
+Thus she exulted; then, when that first tempest of passionate excitement
+had abated, came a revulsion of feeling when the vivid recollections of
+that pitiful scene returned and would not be thrust away; when she saw
+again the change from affection and delight at beholding her to
+suspicion and fear, then terror, come into the face of the boy she had
+loved; when she witnessed the dreadful blow and watched him when he
+swerved and fell from the saddle and the frightened horse galloped
+wildly away dragging him over the rough moor. For now she knew that in
+her heart she had never hated him: the animosity had been only on the
+surface and was an overflow of her consuming hatred of the primate. She
+had always loved the boy, and now that he no longer stood in her way to
+power she loved him again. And she had slain him! O no, she was thankful
+to think she had not! His death had come about by chance. Her commands
+to her people had been that he was not to be allowed to leave the
+castle; she had resolved to detain him, to hide and hold him a captive,
+to persuade or in some way compel him to abdicate in his brother's
+favour. She could not now say just how she had intended to deal with
+him, but it was never her intention to murder him. Her commands had been
+misunderstood, and she could not be blamed for his death, however much
+she was to benefit by it. God would not hold her accountable.
+
+Could she then believe that she was guiltless in God's sight? Alas! on
+second thoughts she dared not affirm it. She was guiltless only in the
+way that she had been guiltless of Athelwold's murder; had she not
+rejoiced at the part she had had in that act? Athelwold had deserved his
+fate, and she had never repented that deed, nor had Edgar. She had not
+dealt the fatal blow then nor now, but she had wished for Edward's death
+even as she had wished for Athelwold's, and it was for her the blow was
+struck. It was a difficult and dreadful question. She was not equal to
+it. Let it be put off, the pressing question now was, what would man's
+judgment be--how would she now stand before the world?
+
+And now the hope came that the secret of the king's disappearance would
+never be known; that after a time it would be assumed that he was dead,
+and that his death would never be traced to her door.
+
+A vain hope, as she quickly found! There had been too many witnesses of
+the deed both of the castle people and those who lived outside the
+gates. The news spread fast and far as if carried by winged messengers,
+so that it was soon known throughout the kingdom, and everywhere it was
+told and believed that the queen herself had dealt the fatal blow.
+
+Not Elfrida nor any one living at that time could have foretold the
+effect on the people generally of this deed, described as the foulest
+which had been done in Saxon times. There had in fact been a thousand
+blacker deeds in the England of that dreadful period, but never one that
+touched the heart and imagination of the whole people in the same way.
+Furthermore, it came after a long pause, a serene interval of many years
+in the everlasting turmoil--the years of the reign of Edgar the
+Peaceful, whose early death had up till then been its one great sorrow.
+A time too of recovery from a state of insensibility to evil deeds; of
+increasing civilisation and the softening of hearts. For Edward was the
+child of Edgar and his child-wife, who was beautiful and beloved and
+died young; and he had inherited the beauty, charm, and all engaging
+qualities of his parents. It is true that these qualities were known at
+first-hand only by those who were about him; but from these the feeling
+inspired had been communicated to those outside in ever-widening circles
+until it was spread over all the land, so that there was no habitation,
+from the castle to the hovel, in which the name of Edward was not as
+music on man's lips. And we of the present generation can perhaps
+understand this better than those of any other in the past centuries,
+for having a prince and heir to the English throne of this same name so
+great in our annals, one as universally loved as was Edward the Second,
+afterwards called the Martyr, in his day.
+
+One result of this general outburst of feeling was that all those who
+had been, openly or secretly, in alliance with Elfrida now hastened to
+dissociate themselves from her. She was told that by her own rash act in
+killing the king before the world she had ruined her own cause for ever.
+
+And Dunstan was not defeated after all. He made haste to proclaim the
+son, the boy of ten years, king of England, and at the same time to
+denounce the mother as a murderess. Nor did she dare to resist him when
+he removed the little prince from Corfe Castle and placed him with some
+of his own creatures, with monks for schoolmasters and guardians, whose
+first lesson to him would be detestation of his mother. This lesson too
+had to be impressed on the public mind; and at once, in obedience to
+this command, every preaching monk in every chapel in the land raged
+against the queen, the enemy of the archbishop and of religion, the
+tigress in human shape, and author of the greatest crime known in the
+land since Cerdic's landing. No fortitude could stand against such a
+storm of execration. It overwhelmed her. It was, she believed, a
+preparation for the dreadful doom about to fall on her. This was her
+great enemy's day, and he would no longer be baulked of his revenge. She
+remembered that Edwin had died by the assassin's hand, and the awful
+fate of his queen Elgitha, whose too beautiful face was branded with hot
+irons, and who was hamstrung and left to perish in unimaginable agony.
+She was like the hunted roe deer hiding in a close thicket and
+listening, trembling, to the hunters shouting and blowing on their horns
+and to the baying of their dogs, seeking for her in the wood.
+
+Could she defend herself against them in her castle? She consulted her
+guard as to this, with the result that most of the men secretly left
+her. There was nothing for her to do but wait in dreadful suspense, and
+thereafter she would spend many hours every day in a tower commanding a
+wide view of the surrounding level country to watch the road with
+anxious eyes. But the feared hunters came not; the sound of the cry for
+vengeance grew fainter and fainter until it died into silence. It was at
+length borne in on her that she was not to be punished--at all events,
+not here and by man. It came as a surprise to every one, herself
+included. But it had been remembered that she was Edgar's widow and the
+king's mother, and that her power and influence were dead. Never again
+would she lift her head in England. Furthermore, Dunstan was growing
+old; and albeit his zeal for religion, pure and undefiled as he
+understood it, was not abated, the cruel, ruthless instincts and temper,
+which had accompanied and made it effective in the great day of conflict
+when he was engaged in sweeping from England the sin and scandal of a
+married clergy, had by now burnt themselves out. Vengeance is mine,
+saith the Lord, I will repay, and he was satisfied to have no more to do
+with her. Let the abhorred woman answer to God for her crimes.
+
+But now that all fear of punishment by man was over, this dreadful
+thought that she was answerable to God weighed more and more heavily on
+her. Nor could she escape by day or night from the persistent image of
+the murdered boy. It haunted her like a ghost in every room, and when
+she climbed to a tower to look out it was to see his horse rushing madly
+away dragging his bleeding body over the moor. Or when she went out to
+the gate it was still to find him there, sitting on his horse, his face
+lighting up with love and joy at beholding her again; then the
+change--the surprise, the fear, the wine-cup, the attempt to break away,
+her cry--the unconsidered words she had uttered--and the fatal blow! The
+cry that rose from all England calling on God to destroy her! would that
+be her torment--would it sound in her ears through all eternity?
+
+Corfe became unendurable to her, and eventually she moved to Bere, in
+Dorset, where the lands were her property and she possessed a house of
+her own, and there for upwards of a year she resided in the strictest
+seclusion.
+
+It then came out and was quickly noised abroad that the king's body had
+been discovered long ago--miraculously it was said--in that brake near
+Corfe where it had been hidden; that it had been removed to and secretly
+buried at Wareham, and it was also said that miracles were occurring at
+that spot. This caused a fresh outburst of excitement in the country;
+the cry of miracles roused the religious houses all over Wessex, and
+there was a clamour for possession of the remains. This was a question
+for the heads of the Church to decide, and it was eventually decreed
+that the monastery of Shaftesbury, founded by King Alfred, Edward's
+great-great-grandfather, should have the body. Shaftesbury then, in
+order to advertise so important an acquisition to the world, resolved to
+make the removal of the remains the occasion of a great ceremony, a
+magnificent procession bearing the sacred remains from Wareham to the
+distant little city on the hill, attended by representatives from
+religious houses all over the country and by the pious generally.
+
+Elfrida, sitting alone in her house, brooding on her desolation, heard
+of all these happenings and doings with increasing excitement; then all
+at once resolved to take part herself in the procession. This was
+seemingly a strange, almost incredible departure for one of her
+indomitable character and so embittered against the primate, even as he
+was against her. But her fight with him was now ended; she was defeated,
+broken, deprived of everything that she valued in life; it was time to
+think about the life to come. Furthermore, it now came to her that this
+was not her own thought, but that it had been whispered to her soul by
+some compassionate being of a higher order, and it was suggested to her
+that here was an opportunity for a first step towards a reconciliation
+with God and man. She dared not disregard it. Once more she would appear
+before the world, not as the beautiful, magnificent Elfrida, the proud
+and powerful woman of other days, but as a humble penitent doing her
+bitter penance in public, one of a thousand or ten thousand humble
+pilgrims, clad in mean garments, riding only when overcome with fatigue,
+and at the last stage of that long twenty-five-mile journey casting off
+her shoes to climb the steep stony road on naked, bleeding feet.
+
+This resolution, in which she was strongly supported by the local
+priesthood, had a mollifying effect on the people, and something like
+compassion began to mingle with their feelings of hatred towards her.
+But when it was reported to Dunstan, he fell into a rage, and imagined
+or pretended to believe that some sinister design was hidden under it.
+She was the same woman, he said, who had instigated the murder of her
+first husband by means of a trick of this kind. She must not be allowed
+to show her face again. He then despatched a stern and threatening
+message forbidding her to take any part in or show herself at the
+procession.
+
+This came at the last moment when all her preparations had been made;
+but she dared not disobey. The effect was to increase her misery. It was
+as if the gates of mercy and deliverance, which had been opened,
+miraculously as she believed, had now been once more closed against her;
+and it was also as if her enemy had said: I have spared you the branding
+with hot irons and slashing of sinews with sharp knives, not out of
+compassion, but in order to subject you to a more terrible punishment.
+
+Despair possessed her, which turned to sullen rage when she found that
+the feeling of the people around her had again become hostile, owing to
+the report that her non-appearance at the procession was due to the
+discovery by Dunstan in good time of a secret plot against the State on
+her part. Her house at Bere became unendurable to her; she resolved to
+quit it, and made choice of Salisbury as her next place of residence. It
+was not far to go, and she had a good house there which had not been
+used since Edgar's death, but was always kept ready for her occupation.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+
+It was about the middle of the afternoon when Elfrida on horseback and
+attended by her mounted guard of twenty or more men, followed by a
+convoy of carts with her servants and luggage, arrived at Salisbury, and
+was surprised and disturbed at the sight of a vast concourse of people
+standing without the gates.
+
+It had got abroad that she was coming to Salisbury on that day, and it
+was also now known throughout Wessex that she had not been allowed to
+attend the procession to Shaftesbury. This had excited the people, and a
+large part of the inhabitants of the town and the adjacent hamlets had
+congregated to witness her arrival.
+
+On her approach the crowd opened out on either side to make way for her
+and her men, and glancing to this side and that she saw that every pair
+of eyes in all that vast silent crowd were fixed intently on her face.
+
+Then came a fresh surprise when she found a mounted guard standing with
+drawn swords before the gates. The captain of the guard, lifting his
+hand, cried out to her to halt, then in a loud voice he informed her he
+had been ordered to turn her back from the gates. Was it then to witness
+this fresh insult that the people had now been brought together? Anger
+and apprehension struggled for mastery in her breast and choked her
+utterance when she attempted to speak. She could only turn to her men,
+and in instant response to her look they drew their swords and pressed
+forward as if about to force their way in. This movement on their part
+was greeted with a loud burst of derisive laughter from the town guard.
+Then from out of the middle of the crowd of lookers-on came a cry of
+Murderess! quickly followed by another shout of Go back, murderess, you
+are not wanted here! This was a signal for all the unruly spirits in the
+throng--all those whose delight is to trample upon the fallen--and from
+all sides there arose a storm of jeers and execrations, and it was as if
+she was in the midst of a frantic bellowing herd eager to gore and
+trample her to death. And these were the same people that a few short
+years ago would rush out from their houses to gaze with pride and
+delight at her, their beautiful queen, and applaud her to the echo
+whenever she appeared at their gates! Now, better than ever before, she
+realised the change of feeling towards her from affectionate loyalty to
+abhorrence, and drained to the last bitterest dregs the cup of shame and
+humiliation.
+
+With trembling hand she turned her horse round, and bending her ashen
+white face low rode slowly out of the crowd, her men close to her on
+either side, threatening with their swords those that pressed nearest
+and followed in their retreat by shouts and jeers. But when well out of
+sight and sound of the people she dismounted and sat down on the turf to
+rest and consider what was to be done. By and by a mounted man was seen
+coming from Salisbury at a fast gallop. He came with a letter and
+message to the queen from an aged nobleman, one she had known in former
+years at court. He informed her that he owned a large house at or near
+Amesbury which he could not now use on account of his age and
+infirmities, which compelled him to remain in Salisbury. This house she
+might occupy for as long as she wished to remain in the neighbourhood.
+He had received permission from the governor of the town to offer it to
+her, and the only condition was that she must not return to Salisbury.
+
+There was thus one friend left to the reviled and outcast queen--this
+aged dying man!
+
+Once more she set forth with the messenger as guide, and about set of
+sun arrived at the house, which was to be her home for the next two to
+three years, in this darkest period of her life. Yet she could not have
+found a habitation and surroundings more perfectly suited to her wants
+and the mood she was in. The house, which was large enough to
+accommodate all her people, was on the west side of the Avon, a quarter
+of a mile below Amesbury and two to three hundred yards distant from the
+river bank, and was surrounded by enclosed land with gardens and
+orchards, the river itself forming the boundary on one side. Here was
+the perfect seclusion she desired: here she could spend her hours and
+days as she ever loved to do in the open air without sight of any human
+countenance excepting those of her own people, since now strange faces
+had become hateful to her. Then, again, she loved riding, and just
+outside of her gates was the great green expanse of the Downs, where she
+could spend hours on horseback without meeting or seeing a human figure
+except occasionally a solitary shepherd guarding his flock. So great was
+the attraction the Downs had for her she herself marvelled at it. It was
+not merely the sense of power and freedom the rider feels on a horse
+with the exhilarating effect of swift motion and a wide horizon. Here
+she had got out of the old and into a new world better suited to her
+changed spirit. For in that world of men and women in which she had
+lived until now all nature had become interfused with her own and other
+people's lives--passions and hopes and fears and dreams and ambitions.
+Now it was as if an obscuring purple mist had been blown away, leaving
+the prospect sharp and clear to her sight as it had never appeared
+before. A wide prospect, whose grateful silence was only broken by the
+cry or song of some wild bird. Great thickets of dwarf thorn tree and
+brambles and gorse, aflame with yellow flowers or dark to blackness by
+contrast with the pale verdure of the earth. And open reaches of elastic
+turf, its green suffused or sprinkled with red or blue or yellow,
+according to the kind of flowers proper to the season and place. The
+sight, too, of wild creatures: fallow deer, looking yellow in the
+distance when seen amid the black gorse; a flock of bustards taking to
+flight on her approach would rush away, their spread wings flashing
+silver-white in the brilliant sunshine. She was like them on her horse,
+borne swiftly as on wings above the earth, but always near it. Then,
+casting her eyes up, she would watch the soarers, the buzzards, or
+harriers and others, circling up from earth on broad motionless wings,
+bird above bird, ever rising and diminishing to fade away at last into
+the universal blue. Then, as if aspiring too, she would seek the highest
+point on some high down, and sitting on her horse survey the prospect
+before her--the sea of rounded hills, hills beyond hills, stretching
+away to the dim horizon, and over it all the vast blue dome of heaven.
+Sky and earth, with thorny brakes and grass and flowers and wild
+creatures, with birds that flew low and others soaring up into
+heaven--what was the secret meaning it had for her? She was like one
+groping for a key in a dark place. Not a human figure visible, not a
+sign of human occupancy on that expanse! Was this then the secret of her
+elation? The all-powerful, dreadful God she was at enmity with, whom she
+feared and fled from, was not here. He, or his spirit, was where man
+inhabited, in cities and other centres of population, where there were
+churches and monasteries.
+
+To think this was a veritable relief to her. God was where men
+worshipped him, and not here! She hugged the new belief and it made her
+bold and defiant. Doubtless, if he is here, she would say, and can read
+my thoughts, my horse in his very next gallop will put his foot in a
+mole-run, and bring me down and break my neck. Or when yon black cloud
+comes over me, if it is a thunder-cloud, the lightning out of it will
+strike me dead. If he will but listen to his servant Dunstan this will
+surely happen. Was it God or the head shepherd of his sheep, here in
+England, who, when I tried to enter the fold, beat me off with his staff
+and set his dogs on me so that I was driven away, torn and bleeding, to
+hide myself in a solitary place? Would it then be better for me to go
+with my cries for mercy to his seat? O no, I could not come to him
+there; his doorkeepers would bar the way, and perhaps bring together a
+crowd of their people to howl at me--Go away, Murderess, you are not
+wanted here!
+
+Now in spite of those moments, or even hours, of elation, during which
+her mind would recover its old independence until the sense of freedom
+was like an intoxication; when she cried out against God that he was
+cruel and unjust in his dealings with his creatures, that he had raised
+up and given power to the man who held the rod over her, one who in
+God's holy name had committed crimes infinitely greater than hers, and
+she refused to submit to him--in spite of it all she could never shake
+off the terrible thought that in the end, at God's judgment seat, she
+would have to answer for her own dark deeds. She could not be free of
+her religion. She was like one who tears a written paper to pieces and
+scatters the pieces in anger to see them blown away like snow-flakes on
+the wind; who by and by discovers one small fragment clinging to his
+garments, and looking at the half a dozen words and half words appearing
+on it, adds others from memory or of his own invention. So she with what
+was left when she thrust her religion away built for herself a different
+one which was yet like the old; and even here in this solitude she was
+able to find a house and sacred place for meditation and prayer, in
+which she prayed indirectly to the God she was at enmity with. For now
+invariably on returning from her ride to her house at Amesbury she would
+pay a visit to the Great Stones, the ancient temple of Stonehenge.
+Dismounting, she would order her attendants to take her horse away and
+wait for her at a distance, so as not to be disturbed by the sound of
+their talking. Going in she would seat herself on the central or altar
+stone and give a little time to meditation--to the tuning of her mind.
+That circle of rough-hewn stones, rough with grey lichen, were the
+pillars of her cathedral, with the infinite blue sky for roof, and for
+incense the smell of flowers and aromatic herbs, and for music the
+far-off faintly heard sounds that came to her from the surrounding
+wilderness--the tremulous bleating of sheep and the sudden wild cry of
+hawk or stone curlew. Closing her eyes she would summon the familiar
+image and vision of the murdered boy, always coming so quickly, so
+vividly, that she had brought herself to believe that it was not a mere
+creation of her own mind and of remorse, a memory, but that he was
+actually there with her. Moving her hand over the rough stone she would
+by and by let it rest, pressing it on the stone, and would say, Now I
+have your hand in mine, and am looking with my soul's eyes into yours,
+listen again to the words I have spoken so many times. You would not be
+here if you did not remember me and pity and even love me still. Know
+then that I am now alone in the world, that I am hated by the world
+because of your bitter death. And there is not now one living being in
+the world that I love, for I have ceased to love even my own boy, your
+old beloved playmate, seeing that he has long been taken from me and
+taught with all others to despise and hate me. And of all those who
+inhabit the regions above, in all that innumerable multitude of angels
+and saints, and of all who have died on earth and been forgiven, you
+alone have any feeling of compassion for me and can intercede for me.
+Plead for me--plead for me, O my son; for who is there in heaven or
+earth that can plead so powerfully for me that am stained with your
+blood!
+
+Then, having finished her prayer, and wiped away all trace of tears and
+painful emotions, she would summon her attendants and ride home, in
+appearance and bearing still the Elfrida of her great days--the calm,
+proud-faced, beautiful woman who was once Edgar's queen.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+
+The time had arrived when Elfrida was deprived of this her one relief
+and consolation--her rides on the Downs and the exercise of her religion
+at the temple of the Great Stones--when in the second winter of her
+residence at Amesbury there fell a greater darkness than that of winter
+on England, when the pirate kings of the north began once more to
+frequent our shores, and the daily dreadful tale of battles and
+massacres and burning of villages and monasteries was heard throughout
+the kingdom. These invasions were at first confined to the eastern
+counties, but the agitation, with movements of men and outbreaks of
+lawlessness, were everywhere in the country, and the queen was warned
+that it was no longer safe for her to go out on Salisbury Plain.
+
+The close seclusion in which she had now to live, confined to house and
+enclosed land, affected her spirits, and this was her darkest period,
+and it was also the turning-point in her life. For I now come to the
+strange story of her maid Editha, who, despite her humble position in
+the house, and albeit she was but a young girl in years, one, moreover,
+of a meek, timid disposition, was yet destined to play an exceedingly
+important part in the queen's history.
+
+It happened that by chance or design the queen's maid, who was her
+closest attendant, who dressed and undressed her, was suddenly called
+away on some urgent matter, and this girl Editha, a stranger to all, was
+put in her place. The queen, who was in a moody and irritable state,
+presently discovered that the sight and presence of this girl produced a
+soothing effect on her darkened mind. She began to notice her when the
+maid combed her hair, when sitting with half-closed eyes in profound
+dejection she first looked attentively at that face behind her head in
+the mirror and marvelled at its fairness, the perfection of its lines
+and its delicate colouring, the pale gold hair and strangely serious
+grey eyes that were never lifted to meet her own.
+
+What was it in this face, she asked herself, that held her and gave some
+rest to her tormented spirit? It reminded her of that crystal stream of
+sweet and bitter memories, at Wherwell, on which she used to gaze and in
+which she used to dip her hands, then to press the wetted hands to her
+lips. It also reminded her of an early morning sky, seen beyond and
+above the green dew-wet earth, so infinitely far away, so peaceful with
+a peace that was not of this earth.
+
+It was not then merely its beauty that made this face so much to her,
+but something greater behind it, some inner grace, the peace of God in
+her soul.
+
+One day there came for the queen as a gift from some distant town a
+volume of parables and fables for her entertainment. It was beautiful to
+the sight, being richly bound in silk and gold embroidery; but on
+opening it she soon found that there was little pleasure to be got from
+it on account of the difficulty she found in reading the crabbed
+handwriting. After spending some minutes in trying to decipher a
+paragraph or two she threw the book in disgust on the floor.
+
+The maid picked it up, and after a glance at the first page said it was
+easy to her, and she asked if the queen would allow her to read it to
+her.
+
+Elfrida, surprised, asked how it came about that her maid was able to
+read a difficult script with ease, or was able to read at all; and this
+was the first question she had condescended to put to the girl. Editha
+replied that she had been taught as a child by a great-uncle, a learned
+man; that she had been made to read volumes in a great variety of
+scripts to him, until reading had come easy to her, both Saxon and
+Latin.
+
+Then, having received permission, she read the first fable aloud, and
+Elfrida listening, albeit without interest in the tale itself, found
+that the voice increased the girl's attraction for her. From that time
+the queen made her read to her every day. She would make her sit a
+little distance from her, and reclining on her couch, her head resting
+on her hand, she would let her eyes dwell on that sweet saint-like face
+until the reading was finished.
+
+One day she read from the same book a tale of a great noble, an
+earldoman who was ruler under the king of that part of the country where
+his possessions were, whose power was practically unlimited and his word
+law. But he was a wise and just man, regardful of the rights of others,
+even of the meanest of men, so that he was greatly reverenced and loved
+by the people. Nevertheless, he too, like all men in authority, both
+good and bad, had his enemies, and the chief of these was a noble of a
+proud and froward temper who had quarrelled with him about their
+respective rights in certain properties where their lands adjoined.
+Again and again it was shown to him that his contention was wrong; the
+judgments against him only served to increase his bitterness and
+hostility until it seemed that there would never be an end to that
+strife. This at length so incensed his powerful overlord that he was
+forcibly deprived of his possessions and driven out beggared from his
+home. But no punishment, however severe, could change his nature; it
+only roused him to greater fury, a more fixed determination to have his
+revenge, so that outcast as he was his enmity was still to be feared and
+he was a danger to the ruler and the community in general. Then, at
+last, the great earl said he would suffer this state of things no
+longer, and he ordered his men to go out and seek and take him captive
+and bring him up for a final judgment. This was done, and the ruler then
+said he would not have him put to death as he was advised to do, so as
+to be rid of him once for all, but would inflict a greater punishment on
+him. He then made them put heavy irons on his ankles, riveted so that
+they should never be removed, and condemned him to slavery and to labour
+every day in his fields and pleasure-grounds for the rest of his life.
+To see his hated enemy reduced to that condition would, he said, be a
+satisfaction to him whenever he walked in his gardens.
+
+These stern commands were obeyed, and when the miserable man refused to
+do his task and cried out in a rage that he would rather die, he was
+scourged until the blood ran from the wounds made by the lash; and at
+last, to escape from this torture, he was compelled to obey, and from
+morning to night he laboured on the land, planting and digging and doing
+whatever there was to do, always watched by his overseer, his food
+thrown to him as to a dog; laughed and jeered at by the meanest of the
+servants.
+
+After a certain time, when his body grew hardened so that he could
+labour all day without pain, and, being fatigued, sleep all night
+without waking, though he had nothing but straw on a stone floor to lie
+upon; and when he was no longer mocked or punished or threatened with
+the lash, he began to reflect more and more on his condition, and to
+think that it would be possible to him to make it more endurable. When
+brooding on it, when he repined and cursed, it then seemed to him worse
+than death; but when, occupied with his task, he forgot that he was the
+slave of his enemy, who had overcome and broken him, then it no longer
+seemed so heavy. The sun still shone for him as for others; the earth
+was as green, the sky as blue, the flowers as fragrant. This reflection
+made his misery less; and by and by it came into his mind that it would
+be lessened more and more if he could forget that his master was his
+enemy and cruel persecutor, who took delight in the thought of his
+sufferings; if he could imagine that he had a different master, a great
+and good man who had ever been kind to him and whom his sole desire was
+to please. This thought working in his mind began to give him a
+satisfaction in his toil, and this change in him was noticed by his
+taskmaster, who began to see that he did his work with an understanding
+so much above that of his fellows that all those who laboured with him
+were influenced by his example, and whatsoever the toil was in which he
+had a part the work was better done. From the taskmaster this change
+became known to the chief head of all the lands, who thereupon had him
+set to other more important tasks, so that at last he was not only a
+toiler with pick and spade and pruning knife, but his counsel was sought
+in everything that concerned the larger works on the land; in forming
+plantations, in the draining of wet grounds and building of houses and
+bridges and the making of new roads. And in all these works he acquitted
+himself well.
+
+Thus he laboured for years, and it all became known to the ruler, who at
+length ordered the man to be brought before him to receive yet another
+final judgment. And when he stood before him, hairy, dirty and unkempt,
+in his ragged raiment, with toil-hardened hands and heavy irons on his
+legs, he first ordered the irons to be removed.
+
+The smiths came with their files and hammers, and with much labour took
+them off.
+
+Then the ruler, his powerful old enemy, spoke these words to him: I do
+not know what your motives were in doing what you have done in all these
+years of your slavery; nor do I ask to be told. It is sufficient for me
+to know you have done these things, which are for my benefit and are a
+debt which must now be paid. You are henceforth free, and the
+possessions you were deprived of shall be restored to you, and as to the
+past and all the evil thoughts you had of me and all you did against me,
+it is forgiven and from this day will be forgotten. Go now in peace.
+
+When this last word had been spoken by his enemy, all that remained of
+the old hatred and bitterness went out of him, and it was as if his soul
+as well as his feet had been burdened with heavy irons and that they had
+now been removed, and that he was free with a freedom he had never known
+before.
+
+When the reading was finished, the queen with eyes cast down remained
+for some time immersed in thought; then with a keen glance at the maid's
+face she asked for the book, and opening it began slowly turning the
+leaves. By and by her face darkened, and in a stern tone of voice she
+said: Come here and show me in this book the parable you have just read,
+and then you shall also show me two or three other parables you have
+read to me on former occasions, which I cannot find.
+
+The maid, pale and trembling, came and dropped on her knees and begged
+forgiveness for having recited these three or four tales, which she had
+heard or read elsewhere and committed to memory, and had pretended to
+read them out of the book.
+
+Then the queen in a sudden rage said: Go from me and let me not see you
+again if you do not wish to be stripped and scourged and thrust naked
+out of the gates! And you only escape this punishment because the deceit
+you have been practising on me is, to my thinking, not of your own
+invention, but that of some crafty monk who is making you his
+instrument.
+
+Editha, terrified and weeping, hurriedly quitted the room.
+
+By and by, when that sudden tempest of rage had subsided, the
+despondence, which had been somewhat lightened by the maid's presence,
+came back on her so heavily that it was almost past endurance. She rose
+and went to her sleeping-room, and knelt before a table on which stood a
+crucifix with an image of the Saviour on it--the emblem of the religion
+she had so great a quarrel with. But not to pray. Folding her arms on
+the table and dropping her face on them she said: What have I done? And
+again and again she repeated: What have I done? Was it indeed a monk who
+taught her this deceit, or some higher being who put it in her mind to
+whisper a hope to my soul? To show me a way of escape from everlasting
+death--to labour in his fields and pleasure-grounds, a wretched slave
+with irons on her feet, to be scourged and mocked at, and in this state
+to cast out hatred and bitterness from my own soul and all remembrance
+of the injuries he had inflicted on me--to teach myself through long
+miserable years that this powerful enemy and persecutor is a kind and
+loving master? This is the parable, and now my soul tells me it would be
+a light punishment when I look at the red stains on these hands, and
+when the image of the boy I loved and murdered comes back to me. This
+then was the message, and I drove the messenger from me with cruel
+threats and insult.
+
+Suddenly she rose, and going hurriedly out, called to her maids to bring
+Editha to her. They told her the maid had departed instantly on being
+dismissed, and had gone upwards of an hour. Then she ordered them to go
+and search for her in all the neighbourhood, at every house, and when
+they had found her to bring her back by persuasion or by force.
+
+They returned after a time only to say they had sought for her
+everywhere and had failed to find or hear any report of her, but that
+some of the mounted men who had gone to look for her on the roads had
+not yet returned.
+
+Left alone once more she turned to a window which looked towards
+Salisbury, and saw the westering sun hanging low in a sky of broken
+clouds over the valley of the Avon and the green downs on either side.
+And, still communing with herself, she said: I know that I shall not
+endure it long--this great fear of God--I know that it will madden me.
+And for the unforgiven who die mad there can be no hope. Only the sight
+of my maid's face with God's peace in it could save me from madness. No,
+I shall not go mad! I shall take it as a sign that I cannot be forgiven
+if the sun goes down without my seeing her again. I shall kill myself
+before madness comes and rest oblivious of life and all things, even of
+God's wrath, until the dreadful waking.
+
+For some time longer she continued standing motionless, watching the
+sun, now sinking behind a dark cloud, then emerging and lighting up the
+dim interior of her room and her stone-white, desolate face.
+
+Then once more her servants came back, and with them Editha, who had
+been found on the road to Salisbury, half-way there.
+
+Left alone together, the queen took the maid by the hand and led her to
+a seat, then fell on her knees before her and clasped her legs and
+begged her forgiveness. When the maid replied that she had forgiven her,
+and tried to raise her up, she resisted, and cried: No, I cannot rise
+from my knees nor loose my hold on you until I have confessed to you and
+you have promised to save me. Now I see in you not my maid who combs my
+hair and ties my shoe-strings, but one that God loves, whom he exalts
+above the queens and nobles of the earth, and while I cling to you he
+will not strike. Look into this heart that has hated him, look at its
+frightful passions, its blood-guiltiness, and have compassion on me! And
+if you, O Editha, should reply to me that it is his will, for he has
+said it, that every soul shall save itself, show me the way. How shall I
+approach him? Teach me humility!
+
+Thus she pleaded and abased herself. Nevertheless it was a hard task she
+imposed upon her helper, seeing that humility, of all virtues, was the
+most contrary to her nature. And when she was told that the first step
+to be taken was to be reconciled to the church, and to the head of the
+church, her chief enemy and persecutor, whose monks, obedient to his
+command, had blackened her name in all the land, her soul was in fierce
+revolt. Nevertheless she had to submit, seeing that God himself through
+his Son when on earth and his Son's disciples had established the
+church, and by that door only could any soul approach him. So there was
+an end to that conflict, and Elfrida, beaten and broken, although ever
+secretly hating the tonsured keepers of her soul, set forth under their
+guidance on her weary pilgrimage--the long last years of her bitter
+expiation.
+
+Yet there was to be one more conflict between the two women--the
+imperious mistress and the humble-minded maid. This was when Editha
+announced to the other that the time had now come for her to depart. But
+the queen wished to keep her, and tried by all means to do so, by
+pleading with her and by threatening to detain her by force. Then
+repenting her anger and remembering the great debt of gratitude owing to
+the girl, she resolved to reward her generously, to bestow wealth on
+her, but in such a form that it would appear to the girl as a beautiful
+parting gift from one who had loved her: only afterwards, when they were
+far apart, would she discover its real value.
+
+A memory of the past had come to her--of that day, sixteen years ago,
+when her lover came to her and using sweet flattering words poured out
+from a bag a great quantity of priceless jewels into her lap, and of the
+joy she had in the gift. Also how from the day of Athelwold's death she
+had kept those treasures put away in the same bag out of her sight. Nor
+in all the days of her life with Edgar had she ever worn a gem, though
+she had always loved to array herself magnificently, but her ornaments
+had been gold only, the work of the best artists in Europe. Now, in
+imitation of Athelwold, when his manner of bestowing the jewels had so
+charmed her, she would bestow them on the girl.
+
+Accordingly when the moment of separation came and Editha was made to
+seat herself, the queen standing over her with the bag in her hand said:
+Do you, Editha, love all beautiful things? And when the maid had replied
+that she did, the other said: Then take these gems, which are beautiful,
+as a parting gift from me. And with that she poured out the mass of
+glittering jewels into the girl's lap.
+
+But the maid without touching or even looking at them, and with a cry, I
+want no jewels! started to her feet so that they were all scattered upon
+the floor.
+
+The queen stared astonished at the face before her with its new look of
+pride and excitement, then with rising anger she said: Is my maid too
+proud then to accept a gift from me? Does she not know that a single one
+of those gems thrown on the floor would be more than a fortune to her?
+
+The girl replied in the same proud way: I am not your maid, and gems are
+no more to me than pebbles from the brook!
+
+Then all at once recovering her meek, gentle manner she cried in a voice
+that pierced the queen's heart: O, not your maid, only your
+fellow-worker in our Master's fields and pleasure-grounds! Before I ever
+beheld your face, and since we have been together, my heart has bled for
+you, and my daily cry to God has been: Forgive her! Forgive her, for his
+sake who died for our sins! And this shall I continue to cry though I
+shall see you no more on earth. But we shall meet again. Not, O unhappy
+queen, at life's end, but long afterwards--long, long years! long ages!
+
+Dropping on her knees she caught and kissed the queen's hand, shedding
+abundant tears on it, then rose and was quickly gone.
+
+Elfrida, left to herself, scarcely recovered from the shock of surprise
+at that sudden change in the girl's manner, began to wonder at her own
+blindness in not having seen through her disguise from the first. The
+revelation had come to her only at the last moment in that proud gesture
+and speech when her gift was rejected, not without scorn. A child of
+nobles great as any in the land, what had made her do this thing? What
+indeed but the heavenly spirit that was in her, the spirit that was in
+Christ--the divine passion to save!
+
+Now she began to ponder on those last words the maid had spoken, and the
+more she thought of them the greater became her sadness until it was
+like the approach of death. O terrible words! Yet it was what she had
+feared, even when she had dared to hope for forgiveness. Now she knew
+what her life after death was to be since the word had been spoken by
+those inspired lips. O dreadful destiny! To dwell alone, to tread alone
+that desert desolate, that illimitable waste of burning sand stretching
+from star to star through infinite space, where was no rock nor tree to
+give her shade, no fountain to quench her fiery thirst! For that was how
+she imaged the future life, as a desert to be dwelt in until in the end,
+when in God's good time--the time of One to whom a thousand years are as
+one day--she would receive the final pardon and be admitted to rest in a
+green and shaded place.
+
+Overcome with the agonising thought she sank down on her couch and fell
+into a faint. In that state she was found by her women, reclining, still
+as death, with eyes closed, the whiteness of death in her face; and
+thinking her dead they rushed out terrified, crying aloud and lamenting
+that the queen was dead.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+
+She was not dead. She recovered from that swoon, but never from the
+deep, unbroken sadness caused by those last words of the maid Editha,
+which had overcome and nearly slain her. She now abandoned her
+seclusion, but the world she returned to was not the old one. The
+thought that every person she met was saying in his or her heart: This
+is Elfrida; this is the queen who murdered Edward the Martyr, her
+step-son, made that world impossible. The men and women she now
+consorted with were the religious and ecclesiastics of all degrees, and
+abbots and abbesses. These were the people she loved least, yet now into
+their hands she deliberately gave herself; and to those who questioned
+her, to her spiritual guides, she revealed all her life and thoughts and
+passions, opening her soul to their eyes like a manuscript for them to
+read and consider; and when they told her that in God's sight she was
+guilty of the murder both of Edward and Athelwold, she replied that they
+doubtless knew best what was in God's mind, and whatever they commanded
+her to do that should be done, and if in her own mind it was not as they
+said this could be taken as a defect in her understanding. For in her
+heart she was not changed, and had not yet and never would learn the
+bitter lesson of humility. Furthermore, she knew better than they what
+life and death had in store for her, since it had been revealed to her
+by holier lips than those of any priest. Lips on which had been laid a
+coal from the heavenly altar, and what they had foretold would come to
+pass--that unearthly pilgrimage and purification--that destiny,
+dreadful, ineluctable, that made her soul faint to think of it. Here, on
+this earth, it was for her to toil, a slave with heavy irons on her
+feet, in her master's fields and pleasure-grounds, and these gowned men
+with shaven heads, wearing ropes of beads and crucifixes as emblems of
+their authority--these were the taskmasters set over her, and to these,
+she, Elfrida, one time queen in England, would bend in submission and
+humbly confess her sins, and uncomplainingly take whatever austerities
+or other punishments they decreed.
+
+Here, then, at Amesbury itself, she began her works of expiation, and
+found that she, too, like the unhappy man in the parable, could
+experience some relief and satisfaction in her solitary embittered
+existence in the work itself.
+
+Having been told that at this village where she was living a monastery
+had existed and had been destroyed in the dreadful wars of two to three
+centuries ago, she conceived the idea of founding a new one, a nunnery,
+and endowing it richly, and accordingly the Abbey of Amesbury was built
+and generously endowed by her.
+
+This religious house became famous in after days, and was resorted to by
+the noblest ladies in the land who desired to take the veil, including
+princesses and widow queens; and it continued to flourish for centuries,
+down to the Dissolution.
+
+This work completed, she returned, after nineteen years, to her old home
+at Wherwell. Since she had lost sight of her maid Editha, she had been
+possessed with a desire to re-visit that spot, where she had been happy
+as a young bride and had repined in solitude and had had her glorious
+triumph and stained her soul with crime. She craved for it again,
+especially to look once more at the crystal current of the Test in which
+she had been accustomed to dip her hands. The grave, saintly face of
+Editha had reminded her of that stream; and Editha she might not see.
+She could not seek for her, nor speak to her, nor cry to her to come
+back to her, since she had said that they would meet no more on earth.
+
+Having become possessed of the castle which she had once regarded as her
+prison and cage, she ordered its demolition and used the materials in
+building the abbey she founded at that spot, and it was taken for
+granted by the Church that this was done in expiation of the part she
+had taken in Athelwold's murder. At this spot where the stream became
+associated in her mind with the thought of Editha, and was a sacred
+stream, she resolved to end her days. But the time of her retirement was
+not yet, there was much still waiting for her to do in her master's
+fields and pleasure-grounds. For no sooner had the tidings of her work
+in founding these monasteries and the lavish use she was making of her
+great wealth been spread abroad, than from many religious houses all
+over the land the cry was sent to her--the Macedonian cry to St. Paul to
+come over and help us.
+
+From the houses founded by Edgar the cry was particularly loud and
+insistent. There were forty-seven of them, and had not Edgar died so
+soon there would have been fifty, that being the number he had set his
+heart on in his fervid zeal for religion. All, alas! were insufficiently
+endowed; and it was for Elfrida, as they were careful to point out, to
+increase their income from her great wealth, seeing that this would
+enable them to associate her name with that of Edgar and keep it in
+memory, and this would be good for her soul.
+
+To all such calls she listened, and she performed many and long journeys
+to the religious houses all over the country to look closely into their
+conditions and needs, and to all she gave freely or in moderation, but
+not always without a gesture of scorn. For in her heart of hearts she
+was still Elfrida and unchanged, albeit outwardly she had attained to
+humility; only once during these years of travel and toil when she was
+getting rid of her wealth did she allow her secret bitterness and
+hostility to her ecclesiastical guides and advisers to break out.
+
+She was at Worcester, engaged in a conference with the bishop and
+several of his clergy; they were sitting at an oak table with some
+papers and plans before them, when the news was brought into the room
+that Archbishop Dunstan was dead.
+
+They all, except Elfrida, started to their feet with the looks and
+exclamations of dismay, as if some frightful calamity had come to pass.
+Then dropping to their knees with bowed heads and lifted hands they
+prayed for the repose of his soul. They prayed silently, but the silence
+was broken by a laugh from the queen. Starting to his feet the bishop
+turned on her a severe countenance, and asked why she laughed at that
+solemn moment.
+
+She replied that she had laughed unthinkingly, as the linnet sings, from
+pure joy of heart at the glad tidings that their holy archbishop had
+been translated to paradise. For if he had done so much for England when
+burdened with the flesh, how much more would he be able to do now from
+the seat or throne to which he would be exalted in heaven in virtue of
+the position his blessed mother now occupied in that place.
+
+The bishop, angered at her mocking words, turned his back on her, and
+the others, following his example, averted their faces, but not one word
+did they utter.
+
+They remembered that Dunstan in former years, when striving to make
+himself all powerful in the kingdom, had made free use of a supernatural
+machinery; that when he wanted something done and it could not be done
+in any other way, he received a command from heaven, brought to him by
+some saint or angel, to have it done, and the command had then to be
+obeyed. They also remembered that when Dunstan, as he informed them, had
+been snatched up into the seventh heaven, he did not on his return to
+earth modestly, like St. Paul, that it was not lawful for him to speak
+of the things which he had heard and seen, but he proclaimed them to an
+astonished world in his loudest trumpet voice. Also, that when, by these
+means, he had established his power and influence and knew that he could
+trust his own subtle brains to maintain his position, he had dropped the
+miracles and visions. And it had come to pass that when the archbishop
+had seen fit to leave the supernatural element out of his policy, the
+heads of the Church in England were only too pleased to have it so. The
+world had gaped with astonishment at these revelations long enough, and
+its credulity had come near to the breaking point, on which account the
+raking up of these perilous matters by the queen was fiercely resented.
+
+But the queen was not yet satisfied that enough had been said by her.
+Now she was in full revolt she must give out once for all the hatred of
+her old enemy, which his death had not appeased.
+
+What mean you, Fathers, she cried, by turning your backs on me and
+keeping silence? Is it an insult to me you intend or to the memory of
+that great and holy man who has just quitted the earth? Will you dare to
+say that the reports he brought to us of the marvellous doings he
+witnessed in heaven, when he was taken there, were false and the lies
+and inventions of Satan, whose servant he was?
+
+More than that she was not allowed to say, for now the bishop in a
+mighty rage swung round, and dealt a blow on the table with such fury
+that his arm was disabled by it, he shouted at her: Not another word!
+Hold your mocking tongue, fiendish woman! Then plucking up his gown with
+his left hand for fear of being tripped up by it he rushed out of the
+room.
+
+The others, still keeping their faces averted from her, followed at a
+more dignified pace; and seeing them depart she cried after them: Go,
+Fathers, and tell your bishop that if he had not run away so soon he
+would have been rewarded for his insolence by a slap in the face.
+
+This outburst on her part caused no lasting break in her relations with
+the Church. It was to her merely an incident in her long day's toil in
+her master's fields--a quarrel she had had with an overseer; while he,
+on his side, even before he recovered the use of his injured arm,
+thought it best for their souls, as well as for the interests of the
+Church, to say no more about it. Her great works of expiation were
+accordingly continued. But the time at length arrived for her to take
+her long-desired rest before facing the unknown dreaded future. She was
+not old in years, but remorse and a deep settled melancholy and her
+frequent fierce wrestlings with her own rebellious nature as with an
+untamed dangerous animal chained to her had made her old. Furthermore,
+she had by now well-nigh expended all her possessions and wealth, even
+to the gems she had once prized and then thrust away out of sight for
+many years, and which her maid Editha had rejected with scorn, saying
+they were no more to her than pebbles from the brook.
+
+Once more at Wherwell, she entered the Abbey, and albeit she took the
+veil herself she was not under the same strict rule as her sister nuns.
+The Abbess herself retired to Winchester and ruled the convent from that
+city, while Elfrida had the liberty she desired, to live and do as she
+liked in her own rooms and attend prayers and meals only when inclined
+to do so. There, as always, since Edward's death, her life was a
+solitary one, and in the cold season she would have her fire of logs and
+sit before it as in the old days in the castle, brooding ever on her
+happy and unhappy past and on the awful future, the years and centuries
+of suffering and purification.
+
+It was chiefly this thought of the solitariness of that future state,
+that companionless way, centuries long, that daunted her. Here in this
+earthly state, darkened as it was, there were yet two souls she could
+and constantly did hold communion with--Editha still on earth, though
+not with her, and Edward in heaven; but in that dreadful desert to which
+she would be banished there would be a great gulf set between her soul
+and theirs.
+
+But perhaps there would be others she had known, whose lives had been
+interwoven with hers, she would be allowed to commune with in that same
+place. Edgar of a certainty would be there, although Glastonbury had
+built him a chapel and put him in a silver tomb and had begun to call
+him Saint Edgar. Would he find her and seek to have speech with her? It
+was anguish to her even to think of such an encounter. She would say, Do
+not come to me, for rather would I be alone in this dreadful solitude
+for a thousand years than have you, Edgar, for company. For I have not
+now one thought or memory of you in my soul that is not bitter. It is
+true that I once loved you: even before I saw your face I loved you, and
+said in my heart that we two were destined to be one. And my love
+increased when we were united, and you gave me my heart's desire--the
+power I loved, and glory in the sight of the world. And although in my
+heart I laughed at your pretended zeal for a pure religion while you
+were gratifying your lower desires and chasing after fair women all over
+the land, I admired and gloried in your nobler qualities, your activity
+and vigilance in keeping the peace within your borders, and in making
+England master of the seas, so that the pirate kings of the North
+ventured not to approach our shores. But on your own gross appetites you
+would put no restraint, but gave yourself up to wine and gluttony and
+made a companion of Death, even in the flower of your age you were
+playing with Death, and when you had lived but half your years you rode
+away with Death and left me alone; you, Edgar, the mighty hunter and
+slayer of wolves, you rode away and left me to the wolves, alone, in a
+dark forest. Therefore the guilt of Edward's death is yours more than
+mine, though my soul is stained red with his blood, seeing that you left
+me to fight alone, and in my madness, not knowing what I did, I stained
+myself with this crime.
+
+But what you have done to me is of little moment, seeing that mine is
+but one soul of the many thousands that were given into your keeping,
+and your crime in wasting your life for the sake of base pleasures was
+committed against an entire nation, and not of the living only but also
+the great and glorious dead of the race of Cerdic--of the men who have
+laboured these many centuries, shedding their blood on a hundred
+stricken fields, to build up this kingdom of England; and when their
+mighty work was completed it was given into your hands to keep and
+guard. And you died and abandoned it; Death, your playmate, has taken
+you away, and Edgar's peace is no more. Now your ships are scattered or
+sunk in the sea, now the invaders are again on your coasts as in the old
+dreadful days, burning and slaying, and want is everywhere and fear is
+in all hearts throughout the land. And the king, your son, who inherited
+your beautiful face and nought beside except your vices and whatever was
+least worthy of a king, he too is now taking his pleasure, even as you
+took yours, in a gay bejewelled dress, with some shameless woman at his
+side and a wine-cup in his hand. O unhappy mother that I am, that I must
+curse the day a son was born to me! O grief immitigable that it was my
+deed, my dreadful deed, that raised him to the throne--the throne that
+was Alfred's and Edmund's and Athelstan's!
+
+These were the thoughts that were her only company as she sat brooding
+before her winter fire, day after day, and winter following winter,
+while the years deepened the lines of anguish on her face and whitened
+the hair that was once red gold.
+
+But in the summer time she was less unhappy, for then she could spend
+the long hours out of doors under the sky in the large shaded gardens of
+the convent with the stream for boundary on the lower side. This stream
+had now become more to her than in the old days when, languishing in
+solitude, she had made it a companion and confidant. For now it had
+become associated in her mind with the image of the maid Editha, and
+when she sat again at the old spot on the bank gazing on the swift
+crystal current, then dipping her hand in it and putting the wetted hand
+to her lips, the stream and Editha were one.
+
+Then one day she was missed, and for a long time they sought for her all
+through the building and in the grounds without finding her. Then the
+seekers heard a loud cry, and saw one of the nuns running towards the
+convent door, with her hands pressed to her face as if to shut out some
+dreadful sight; and when they called to her she pointed back towards the
+stream and ran on to the house. Then all the sisters who were out in the
+grounds hurried down to the stream to the spot where Elfrida was
+accustomed to sit, and were horrified to see her lying drowned in the
+water.
+
+It was a hot, dry summer and the stream was low, and in stooping to dip
+her hand in the water she had lost her balance and fallen in, and
+although the water was but three feet deep she had in her feebleness
+been unable to save herself. She was lying on her back on the clearly
+seen bed of many-coloured pebbles, her head pointing downstream, and the
+swift fretting current had carried away her hood and pulled out her long
+abundant silver-white hair, and the current played with her hair, now
+pulling it straight out, then spreading it wide over the surface, mixing
+its silvery threads with the hair-like green blades of the floating
+water-grass. And the dead face was like marble; but the wide-open eyes
+that had never wholly lost their brilliance and the beautiful lungwort
+blue colour were like living eyes--living and gazing through the
+crystal-clear running water at the group of nuns staring down with
+horror-struck faces at her.
+
+Thus ended Elfrida's darkened life; nor did it seem an unfit end; for it
+was as if she had fallen into the arms of the maiden who had in her
+thoughts become one with the stream--the saintly Editha through whose
+sacrifice and intercession she had been saved from death everlasting.
+
+
+
+
+AN OLD THORN
+
+
+[Illustration: HAWTHORN AND IVY NEAR THE GREAT RIDGE WOOD.]
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+The little village of Ingden lies in a hollow of the South Wiltshire
+Downs, the most isolated of the villages in that lonely district. Its
+one short street is crossed at right angles in the middle part by the
+Salisbury road, and standing just at that point, the church on one hand,
+the old inn on the other, you can follow it with the eye for a distance
+of nearly three miles. First it goes winding up the low down under which
+the village stands, then vanishes over the brow to reappear again a mile
+and a half further away as a white band on the vast green slope of the
+succeeding down, which rises to a height of over 600 feet. On the summit
+it vanishes once more, but those who use it know it for a laborious road
+crossing several high ridges before dropping down into the valley road
+leading to Salisbury.
+
+When, standing in the village street, your eye travels up that white
+band, you can distinctly make out even at that distance a small,
+solitary tree standing near the summit--an old thorn with an ivy growing
+on it. My walks were often that way, and invariably on coming to that
+point I would turn twenty yards aside from the road to spend half an
+hour seated on the turf near or under the old tree. These half-hours
+were always grateful; and conscious that the tree drew me to it I
+questioned myself as to the reason. It was, I told myself, nothing but
+mental curiosity: my interest was a purely scientific one. For how comes
+it, I asked, that a thorn can grow to a tree and live to a great age in
+such a situation, on a vast, naked down, where for many centuries,
+perhaps for thousands of years, the herbage has been so closely fed by
+sheep as to have the appearance of a carpet, or newly mown lawn? The
+seed is carried and scattered everywhere by the birds, but no sooner
+does it germinate and send up a shoot than it is eaten down to the
+roots; for there is no scent that attracts a sheep more, no flavour it
+has greater taste for, than that of any forest seedling springing up
+amidst the minute herbaceous plants which carpet the downs. The thorn,
+like other organisms, has its own unconscious intelligence and cunning,
+by means of which it endeavours to save itself and fulfil its life. It
+opens its first tender leaves under the herbage, and at the same time
+thrusts up a vertical spine to wound the nibbling mouth; and no sooner
+has it got a leaf or two and a spine than it spreads its roots all
+round, and from each of them springs a fresh shoot, leaves and
+protecting spine, to increase the chances of preservation. In vain! the
+cunning animal finds a way to defeat all this strategy, and after the
+leaves have been bitten off again and again, the infant plant gives up
+the struggle and dies in the ground. Yet we see that from time to time
+one survives--one perhaps in a million; but how--whether by a quicker
+growth or a harder or more poisonous thorn, an unpalatable leaf, or some
+other secret agency--we cannot guess. First as a diminutive scrubby
+shrub, with numerous iron-hard stems, with few and small leaves but many
+thorns, it keeps its poor flowerless frustrate life for perhaps half a
+century or longer, without growing more than a couple of feet high; and
+then, as by a miracle, it will spring up until its top shoots are out of
+reach of the browsing sheep, and in the end it becomes a tree with
+spreading branches and fully developed leaves, and flowers and fruit in
+their season.
+
+One day I was visited by an artist from a distance who, when shown the
+thorn, pronounced it a fine subject for his pencil, and while he made
+his picture we talked about the hawthorn generally as compared with
+other trees, and agreed that, except in its blossoming time when it is
+merely pretty, it is the most engaging and perhaps the most beautiful of
+our native trees. We said that it was the most _individual_ of trees,
+that its variety was infinite, for you never find two alike, whether
+growing in a forest, in groups, or masses, or alone. We were almost
+lyrical in its praises. But the solitary thorn was always best, he said,
+and this one was perhaps the best of all he had seen: strange and at the
+same time decorative in its form, beautiful too in its appearance of
+great age with unimpaired vigour and something more in its
+expression--that elusive something which we find in some trees and don't
+know how to explain.
+
+Ah, yes, thought I, it was this appeal to the æsthetic faculty which
+attracted me from the first, and not, as I had imagined, the mere
+curiosity of the naturalist interested mainly and always in the _habits_
+of living things, plant or animal.
+
+Certainly the thorn had strangeness. Its appearance as to height was
+deceptive; one would have guessed it eighteen feet; measuring it I was
+surprised to find it only ten. It has four separate boles, springing
+from one root, leaning a little away from each other, the thickest just
+a foot in circumference. The branches are few, beginning at about five
+feet from the ground, the foliage thin, the leaves throughout the summer
+stained with grey, rust-red, and purple colour. Though so small and
+exposed to the full fury of every wind that blows over that vast naked
+down, it has yet an ivy growing on it--the strangest of the many strange
+ivy-plants I have seen. It comes out of the ground as two ivy trunks on
+opposite sides of the stoutest bole, but at a height of four feet from
+the surface the two join and ascend the tree as one round iron-coloured
+and iron-hard stem, which goes curving and winding snakewise among the
+branches as if with the object of roping them to save them from being
+torn off by the winds. Finally, rising to the top, the long serpent stem
+opens out in a flat disc-shaped mass of close-packed branchlets and
+twigs densely set with small round leaves, dark dull green and tough as
+parchment. One could only suppose that thorn and ivy had been partners
+from the beginning of life, and that the union was equally advantageous
+to both.
+
+The small ivy disc or platform on top of the tree was a favourite stand
+and look-out for the downland birds. I seldom visited the spot without
+disturbing some of them, now a little company of missel-thrushes, now a
+crowd of starlings, then perhaps a dozen rooks, crowded together,
+looking very big and conspicuous on their little platform.
+
+Being curious to find out something about the age of the tree, I
+determined to put the question to my old friend Malachi, aged
+eighty-nine, who was born and had always lived in the parish and had
+known the downs and probably every tree growing on them for miles around
+from his earliest years. It was my custom to drop in of an evening and
+sit with him, listening to his endless reminiscences of his young days.
+That evening I spoke of the thorn, describing its position and
+appearance, thinking that perhaps he had forgotten it. How long, I asked
+him, had the thorn been there?
+
+He was one of those men, usually of the labouring class, to be met with
+in such lonely, out-of-the-world places as the Wiltshire Downs, whose
+eyes never look old however many their years may be, and are more like
+the eyes of a bird or animal than a human being, for they gaze at you
+and through you when you speak without appearing to know what you say.
+So it was on this occasion; he looked straight at me with no sign of
+understanding, no change in his clear grey eyes, and answered nothing.
+But I would not be put off, and when, raising my voice, I repeated the
+question, he replied, after another interval of silence, that the thorn
+"was never any different." 'Twas just the same, ivy and all, when he
+were a small boy. It looked just so old; why, he remembered his old
+father saying the same thing--'twas the same when he were a boy, and
+'twas the same in his father's time. Then anxious to escape from the
+subject he began talking of something else.
+
+It struck me that after all the most interesting thing about the thorn
+was its appearance of great age, and this aspect I had now been told had
+continued for at least a century, probably for a much longer time. It
+produced a reverent feeling in me such as we experience at the sight of
+some ancient stone monument. But the tree was alive, and because of its
+life the feeling was perhaps stronger than in the case of a granite
+cross or cromlech or other memorial of antiquity.
+
+Sitting by the thorn one day it occurred to me that, growing at this
+spot close to the road and near the summit of that vast down, numberless
+persons travelling to and from Salisbury must have turned aside to rest
+on the turf in the shade after that laborious ascent or before beginning
+the long descent to the valley below. Travellers of all conditions, on
+foot or horseback, in carts and carriages, merchants, bagmen, farmers,
+drovers, gipsies, tramps and vagrants of all descriptions, and from time
+to time troops of soldiers. Yet never one of them had injured the tree
+in any way! I could not remember ever finding a tree growing alone by
+the roadside in a lonely place which had not the marks of many old and
+new wounds inflicted on its trunk with knives, hatchets, and other
+implements. Here not a mark, not a scratch had been made on any one of
+its four trunks or on the ivy stem by any thoughtless or mischievous
+person, nor had any branch been cut or broken off. Why had they one and
+all respected this tree?
+
+It was another subject to talk to Malachi about, and to him I went after
+tea and found him with three of his neighbours sitting by the fire and
+talking; for though it was summer the old man always had a fire in the
+evening.
+
+They welcomed and made room for me, but I had no sooner broached the
+subject in my mind than they all fell into silence, then after a brief
+interval the three callers began to discuss some little village matter.
+I was not going to be put off in that way, and, leaving them out, went
+on talking to Malachi about the tree. Presently one by one the three
+visitors got up and, remarking that it was time to be going, they took
+their departure.
+
+The old man could not escape nor avoid listening, and in the end had to
+say something. He said he didn't know nothing about all them tramps and
+gipsies and other sorts of men who had sat by the tree; all he knowed
+was that the old thorn had been a good thorn to him--first and last. He
+remembered once when he was a young man, not yet twenty, he went to do
+some work at a village five miles away, and being winter time he left
+early, about four o'clock, to walk home over the downs. He had just got
+married, and had promised his wife to be home for tea at six o'clock.
+But a thick fog came up over the downs, and soon as it got dark he lost
+himself. 'Twas the darkest, thickest night he had ever been out in; and
+whenever he came against a bank or other obstruction he would get down
+on his hands and knees and feel it up and down to get its shape and find
+out what it was, for he knew all the marks on his native downs; 'twas
+all in vain--nothing could he recognise. In this way he wandered about
+for hours, and was in despair of getting home that night, when all at
+once there came a sense of relief, a feeling that it was all right, that
+something was guiding him.
+
+I remarked that I knew what that meant: he had lost his sense of
+direction and had now all at once recovered it; such a thing had often
+happened; I once had such an experience myself.
+
+No, it was not that, he returned. He had not gone a dozen steps from the
+moment that sense of confidence came to him, before he ran into a tree,
+and feeling the trunk with his hands he recognised it as the old thorn
+and knew where he was. In a couple of minutes he was on the road, and in
+less than an hour, just about midnight, he was safe at home.
+
+No more could I get out of him, at all events on that occasion; nor did
+I ever succeed in extracting any further personal experience in spite of
+his having let out that the thorn had been a good thorn to him, first
+and last. I had, however, heard enough to satisfy me that I had at
+length discovered the real secret of the tree's fascination. I recalled
+other trees which had similarly affected me, and how, long years ago,
+when a good deal of my time was spent on horseback, whenever I found
+myself in a certain district I would go miles out of my way just to look
+at a solitary old tree growing in a lonely place, and to sit for an hour
+to refresh myself, body and soul, in its shade. I had indeed all along
+suspected the thorn of being one of this order of mysterious trees; and
+from other experiences I had met with, one some years ago in a village
+in this same county of Wilts, I had formed the opinion that in many
+persons the sense of a strange intelligence and possibility of power in
+such trees is not a mere transitory state but an enduring influence
+which profoundly affects their whole lives.
+
+Determined to find out something more, I went to other villagers, mostly
+women, who are more easily disarmed and made to believe that you too
+know and are of the same mind with them, being under the same mysterious
+power and spell. In this way, laying many a subtle snare, I succeeded in
+eliciting a good deal of information. It was, however, mostly of a kind
+which could not profitably be used in any inquiry into the subject; it
+simply went to show that the feeling existed and was strong in many of
+the villagers. During this inquiry I picked up several anecdotes about a
+person who lived in Ingden close upon three generations ago, and was
+able to piece them together so as to make a consistent narrative of his
+life. This was Johnnie Budd, a farm labourer, who came to his end in
+1821, a year or so before my old friend Malachi was born. It is going
+very far back, but there were circumstances in his life which made a
+deep impression on the mind of that little community, and the story had
+lived on through all these years.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+Johnnie had fallen on hard times when in an exceptionally severe winter
+season he with others had been thrown out of employment at the farm
+where he worked; then with a wife and three small children to keep he
+had in his desperation procured food for them one dark night in an
+adjacent field. But alas! one of the little ones playing in the road
+with some of her companions, who were all very hungry, let it out that
+she wasn't hungry, that for three days she had had as much nice meat as
+she wanted to eat! Play over, the hungry little ones flew home to tell
+their parents the wonderful news--why didn't they have nice meat like
+Tilly Budd, instead of a piece of rye bread without even dripping on it,
+when they were so hungry? Much talk followed, and spread from cottage to
+cottage until it reached the constable's ears, and he, already informed
+of the loss of a wether taken from its fold close by, went straight to
+Johnnie and charged him with the offence. Johnnie lost his head, and
+dropping on his knees confessed his guilt and begged his old friend
+Lampard to have mercy on him and to overlook it for the sake of his wife
+and children.
+
+It was his first offence, but when he was taken from the lock-up at the
+top of the village street to be conveyed to Salisbury, his friends and
+neighbours who had gathered at the spot to witness his removal shook
+their heads and doubted that Ingden would ever see him again. The
+confession had made the case so simple a one that he had at once been
+committed to take his trial at the Salisbury Assizes, and as the time
+was near the constable had been ordered to convey the prisoner to the
+town himself. Accordingly he engaged old Joe Blaskett, called Daddy in
+the village, to take them in his pony cart. Daddy did not want the job,
+but was talked or bullied into it, and there he now sat in his cart,
+waiting in glum silence for his passengers; a bent old man of eighty,
+with a lean, grey, bitter face, in his rusty cloak, his old rabbit-skin
+cap drawn down over his ears, his white disorderly beard scattered over
+his chest. The constable Lampard was a big, powerful man, with a great
+round, good-natured face, but just now he had a strong sense of
+responsibility, and to make sure of not losing his prisoner he
+handcuffed him before bringing him out and helping him to take his seat
+on the bottom of the cart. Then he got up himself to his seat by the
+driver's side; the last good-bye was spoken, the weeping wife being
+gently led away by her friends, and the cart rattled away down the
+street. Turning into the Salisbury road it was soon out of sight over
+the near down, but half an hour later it emerged once more into sight
+beyond the great dip, and the villagers who had remained standing about
+at the same spot watched it crawling like a beetle up the long white
+road on the slope of the vast down beyond.
+
+Johnnie was now lying coiled up on his rug, his face hidden between his
+arms, abandoned to grief, sobbing aloud. Lampard, sitting athwart the
+seat so as to keep an eye on him, burst out at last: "Be a man, Johnnie,
+and stop your crying! 'Tis making things no better by taking on like
+that. What do you say, Daddy?"
+
+"I say nought," snapped the old man, and for a while they proceeded in
+silence except for those heartrending sobs. As they approached the old
+thorn tree, near the top of the long slope, Johnnie grew more and more
+agitated, his whole frame shaking with his sobbing. Again the constable
+rebuked him, telling him that 'twas a shame for a man to go on like
+that. Then with an effort he restrained his sobs, and lifting a red,
+swollen, tear-stained face he stammered out: "Master Lampard, did I ever
+ask 'ee a favour in my life?"
+
+"What be after now?" said the other suspiciously. "Well, no, Johnnie,
+not as I remember."
+
+"An' do 'ee think I'll ever come back home again, Master Lampard?"
+
+"Maybe no, maybe yes; 'tis not for me to say."
+
+"But 'ee knows 'tis a hanging matter?"
+
+"'Tis that for sure. But you be a young man with a wife and childer, and
+have never done no wrong before--not that I ever heard say. Maybe the
+judge'll recommend you to mercy. What do you say, Daddy?"
+
+The old man only made some inarticulate sounds in his beard, without
+turning his head.
+
+"But, Master Lampard, suppose I don't swing, they'll send I over the
+water and I'll never see the wife and children no more."
+
+"Maybe so; I'm thinking that's how 'twill be."
+
+"Then will 'ee do me a kindness? 'Tis the only one I ever asked 'ee, and
+there'll be no chance to ask 'ee another."
+
+"I can't say, Johnnie, not till I know what 'tis you want."
+
+"'Tis only this, Master Lampard. When we git to th' old thorn let me out
+o' the cart and let me stand under it one minnit and no more."
+
+"Be you wanting to hang yourself before the trial then?" said the
+constable, trying to make a joke of it.
+
+"I couldn't do that," said Johnnie, simply, "seeing my hands be fast and
+you'd be standing by."
+
+"No, no, Johnnie, 'tis nought but just foolishness. What do you say,
+Daddy?"
+
+The old man turned round with a look of sudden rage in his grey face
+which startled Lampard; but he said nothing, he only opened and shut his
+mouth two or three times without a sound.
+
+Meanwhile the pony had been going slower and slower for the last thirty
+or forty yards, and now when they were abreast of the tree stood still.
+
+"What be stopping for?" cried Lampard. "Get on--get on, or we'll never
+get to Salisbury this day."
+
+Then at length old Blaskett found a voice.
+
+"Does thee know what thee's saying, Master Lampard, or be thee a
+stranger in this parish?"
+
+"What d'ye mean, Daddy? I be no stranger; I've a-known this parish and
+known 'ee these nine years."
+
+"Thee asked why I stopped when 'twas the pony stopped, knowing where
+we'd got to. But thee's not born here or thee'd a-known what a hoss
+knows. An' since 'ee asks what I says, I say this, 'twill not hurt 'ee
+to let Johnnie Budd stand one minute by the tree."
+
+Feeling insulted and puzzled the constable was about to assert his
+authority when he was arrested by Johnnie's cry, "Oh, Master Lampard,
+'tis my last hope!" and by the sight of the agony of suspense on his
+swollen face. After a short hesitation he swung himself out over the
+side of the cart, and letting down the tailboard laid rough hands on
+Johnnie and half helped, half dragged him out.
+
+They were quickly by the tree, where Johnnie stood silent with downcast
+eyes a few moments; then dropping upon his knees leant his face against
+the bark, his eyes closed, his lips murmuring.
+
+"Time's up!" cried Lampard presently, and taking him by the collar
+pulled him to his feet; in a couple of minutes more they were in the
+cart and on their way.
+
+It was grey weather, very cold, with an east wind blowing, but for the
+rest of that dreary thirteen-miles journey Johnnie was very quiet and
+submissive and shed no more tears.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+What had been his motive in wishing to stand by the tree? What did he
+expect when he said it was his last hope? During the way up the long,
+laborious slope, an incident of his early years in connection with the
+tree had been in his mind, and had wrought on him until it culminated in
+that passionate outburst and his strange request. It was when he was a
+boy, not quite ten years old, that, one afternoon in the summer time, he
+went with other children to look for wild raspberries on the summit of
+the great down. Johnnie, being the eldest, was the leader of the little
+band. On the way back from the brambly place where the fruit grew, on
+approaching the thorn, they spied a number of rooks sitting on it, and
+it came into Johnnie's mind that it would be great fun to play at crows
+by sitting on the branches as near the top as they could get. Running
+on, with cries that sent the rooks cawing away, they began swarming up
+the trunks, but in the midst of their frolic, when they were all
+struggling for the best places on the branches, they were startled by a
+shout, and looking up to the top of the down, saw a man on horseback
+coming towards them at a gallop, shaking a whip in anger as he rode.
+Instantly they began scrambling down, falling over each other in their
+haste, then, picking themselves up, set off down the slope as fast as
+they could run. Johnnie was foremost, while close behind him came Marty,
+who was nearly the same age and, though a girl, almost as swift-footed,
+but before going fifty yards she struck her foot against an ant-hill and
+was thrown violently, face down, on the turf. Johnnie turned at her cry
+and flew back to help her up, but the shock of the fall, and her extreme
+terror, had deprived her for the moment of all strength, and while he
+struggled to raise her, the smaller children, one by one, overtook and
+passed them, and in another moment the man was off his horse, standing
+over them.
+
+"Do you want a good thrashing?" he said, grasping Johnnie by the collar.
+
+"Oh, sir; please don't hit me!" answered Johnnie; then looking up he was
+astonished to see that his captor was not the stern old farmer, the
+tenant of the down, he had taken him for, but a stranger and a
+strange-looking man, in a dark grey cloak with a red collar. He had a
+pointed beard and long black hair and dark eyes that were not evil yet
+frightened Johnnie, when he caught them gazing down on him.
+
+"No, I'll not thrash you," said he, "because you stayed to help the
+little maiden, but I'll tell you something for your good about the tree
+you and your little mates have been climbing, bruising the bark with
+your heels and breaking off leaves and twigs. Do you know, boy, that if
+you hurt it, it will hurt you? It stands fast here with its roots in the
+ground and you--you can go away from it, you think. 'Tis not so;
+something will come out of it and follow you wherever you go and hurt
+and break you at last. But if you make it a friend and care for it, it
+will care for you and give you happiness and deliver you from evil."
+
+Then touching Johnnie's cheeks with his gloved hand he got on his horse
+and rode away, and no sooner was he gone than Marty started up, and hand
+in hand the two children set off at a run down the long slope.
+
+Johnnie's playtime was nearly over then, for by and by he was taken as
+farmer's boy at one of the village farms. When he was nineteen years
+old, one Sunday evening, when standing in the road with other young
+people of the village, youths and girls, it was powerfully borne on his
+mind that his old playmate Marty was not only the prettiest and best
+girl in the place, but that she had something which set her apart and
+far, far above all other women. For now, after having known her
+intimately from his first years, he had suddenly fallen in love with
+her, a feeling which caused him to shiver in a kind of ecstasy, yet made
+him miserable, since it had purged his sight and made him see, too, how
+far apart they were and how hopeless his case. It was true they had been
+comrades from childhood, fond of each other, but she had grown and
+developed until she had become that most bright and lovely being, while
+he had remained the same slow-witted, awkward, almost inarticulate
+Johnnie he had always been. This feeling preyed on his poor mind, and
+when he joined the evening gathering in the village street he noted
+bitterly how contemptuously he was left out of the conversation by the
+others, how incapable he was of keeping pace with them in their laughing
+talk and banter. And, worst of all, how Marty was the leading spirit,
+bandying words and bestowing smiles and pleasantries all round, but
+never a word or a smile for him. He could not endure it, and so instead
+of smartening himself up after work and going for company to the village
+street, he would walk down the secluded lane near the farm to spend the
+hour before supper and bedtime sitting on a gate, brooding on his
+misery; and if by chance he met Marty in the village he would try to
+avoid her, and was silent and uncomfortable in her presence.
+
+After work, one hot summer evening, Johnnie was walking along the road
+near the farm in his working clothes, clay-coloured boots, and old dusty
+hat, when who should he see but Marty coming towards him, looking very
+sweet and fresh in her light-coloured print gown. He looked to this side
+and that for some friendly gap or opening in the hedge so as to take
+himself out of the road, but there was no way of escape at that spot,
+and he had to pass her, and so casting down his eyes he walked on,
+wishing he could sink into the earth out of her sight. But she would not
+allow him to pass; she put herself directly in his way and spoke.
+
+"What's the matter with 'ee, Johnnie, that 'ee don't want to meet me and
+hardly say a word when I speak to 'ee?"
+
+He could not find a word in reply; he stood still, his face crimson, his
+eyes on the ground.
+
+"Johnnie, dear, what is it?" she asked, coming closer and putting her
+hand on his arm.
+
+Then he looked up, and seeing the sweet compassion in her eyes, he could
+no longer keep the secret of his pain from her.
+
+"'Tis 'ee, Marty," he said. "Thee'll never want I--there's others 'ee'll
+like better. 'Tisn't for I to say a word about that, I'm thinking, for I
+be--just nothing. An'--an'--I be going away from the village, Marty, and
+I'll never come back no more."
+
+"Oh, Johnnie, don't 'ee say it! Would 'ee go and break my heart? Don't
+'ee know I've always loved 'ee since we were little mites together?"
+
+And thus it came about that Johnnie, most miserable of men, was all at
+once made happy beyond his wildest dreams. And he proved himself worthy
+of her; from that time there was not a more diligent and sober young
+labourer in the village, nor one of a more cheerful disposition, nor
+more careful of his personal appearance when, the day's work done, the
+young people had their hour of social intercourse and courting. Yet he
+was able to put by a portion of his weekly wages of six shillings to buy
+sticks, so that when spring came round again he was able to marry and
+take Marty to live with him in his own cottage.
+
+One Sunday afternoon, shortly after this happy event, they went out for
+a walk on the high down.
+
+"Oh, Johnnie, 'tis a long time since we were here together, not since we
+used to come and play and look for cowslips when we were little."
+
+Johnnie laughed with pure joy and said they would just be children and
+play again, now they were alone and out of sight of the village; and
+when she smiled up at him he rejoiced to think that his union with this
+perfect girl was producing a happy effect on his poor brains, making him
+as bright and ready with a good reply as any one. And in their happiness
+they played at being children just as in the old days they had played at
+being grown-ups. Casting themselves down on the green, elastic,
+flower-sprinkled turf, they rolled one after the other down the smooth
+slopes of the terrace, the old "shepherd's steps," and by and by
+Johnnie, coming upon a patch of creeping thyme, rubbed his hands in the
+pale purple flowers, then rubbed her face to make it fragrant.
+
+"Oh, 'tis sweet!" she cried. "Did 'ee ever see so many little flowers on
+the down?--'tis as if they came out just for us." Then, indicating the
+tiny milkwort faintly sprinkling the turf all about them, "Oh, the
+little blue darlings! Did 'ee ever see such a dear blue?"
+
+"Oh, aye, a prettier blue nor that," said Johnnie. "'Tis just here,
+Marty," and pressing her down he kissed her on the eyelids a dozen
+times.
+
+"You silly Johnnie!"
+
+"Be I silly, Marty? but I love the red too," and with that he kissed her
+on the mouth. "And, Marty, I do love the red on the breasties too--won't
+'ee let me have just one kiss there?"
+
+And she, to please him, opened her dress a little way, but blushingly,
+though she was his wife and nobody was there to see, but it seemed
+strange to her out of doors with the sun overhead. Oh, 'twas all
+delicious! Never was earth so heavenly sweet as on that wide green down,
+sprinkled with innumerable little flowers, under the wide blue sky and
+the all-illuminating sun that shone into their hearts!
+
+At length, rising to her knees and looking up the green slope, she cried
+out: "Oh, Johnnie, there's the old thorn tree! Do 'ee remember when we
+played at crows on it and had such a fright? 'Twas the last time we came
+here together. Come, let's go to the old tree and see how it looks now."
+
+Johnnie all at once became grave, and said No, he wouldn't go to it for
+anything. She was curious and made him tell her the reason. He had never
+forgotten that day and the fear that came into his mind on account of
+the words the strange man had spoken. She didn't know what the words
+were; she had been too frightened to listen, and so he had to tell her.
+
+"Then, 'tis a wishing-tree for sure," Marty exclaimed. When he asked her
+what a wishing-tree was, she could only say that her old grandmother,
+now dead, had told her. 'Tis a tree that knows us and can do us good and
+harm, but will do good only to some; but they must go to it and ask for
+its protection, and they must offer it something as well as pray to it.
+It must be something bright--a little jewel or coloured bead is best,
+and if you haven't got such a thing, a bright-coloured ribbon, or strip
+of scarlet cloth or silk thread--which you must tie to one of the twigs.
+
+"But we hurted the tree, Marty, and 'twill do no good to we."
+
+They were both grave now; then a hopeful thought came to her aid. They
+had not hurt the tree intentionally; the tree knew that--it knew more
+than any human being. They might go and stand side by side under its
+branches and ask it to forgive them, and grant them all their desires.
+But they must not go empty-handed, they must have some bright thing with
+them when making their prayer. Then she had a fresh inspiration. She
+would take a lock of her own bright hair, and braid it with some of his,
+and tie it with a piece of scarlet thread.
+
+Johnnie was pleased with this idea, and they agreed to take another
+Sunday afternoon walk and carry out their plan.
+
+The projected walk was never taken, for by and by Marty's mother fell
+ill, and Marty had to be with her, nursing her night and day. And months
+went by, and at length, when her mother died, she was not in a fit
+condition to go long walks and climb those long, steep slopes. After the
+child was born, it was harder than ever to leave the house, and Johnnie,
+too, had so much work at the farm that he had little inclination to go
+out on Sundays. They ceased to speak of the tree, and their
+long-projected pilgrimage was impracticable until they could see better
+days. But the wished time never came, for, after the first child, Marty
+was never strong. Then a second child came, then a third; and so five
+years went by, of toil and suffering and love, and the tree, with all
+their hopes and fears and intentions regarding it, was less and less in
+their minds, and was all but forgotten. Only Johnnie, when at long
+intervals his master sent him to Salisbury with the cart, remembered it
+all only too well when, coming to the top of the down, he saw the old
+thorn directly before him. Passing it, he would turn his face away not
+to see it too closely, or, perhaps, to avoid being recognised by it.
+Then came the time of their extreme poverty, when there was no work at
+the farm and no one of their own people to help tide them over a season
+of scarcity, for the old people were dead or in the workhouse or so poor
+as to want help themselves. It was then that, in his misery at the sight
+of his ailing anxious wife--the dear Marty of the beautiful vanished
+days--and his three little hungry children, that he went out into the
+field one dark night to get them food.
+
+The whole sad history was in his mind as they slowly crawled up the
+hill, until it came to him that perhaps all their sufferings and this
+great disaster had been caused by the tree--by that something from the
+tree which had followed him, never resting in its mysterious enmity
+until it broke him. Was it too late to repair that terrible mistake? A
+gleam of hope shone on his darkened mind, and he made his passionate
+appeal to the constable. He had no offering--his hands were powerless
+now; but at least he could stand by it and touch it with his body and
+face and pray for its forgiveness, and for deliverance from the doom
+which threatened him. The constable had compassionately, or from some
+secret motive, granted his request; but alas! if in very truth the power
+he had come to believe in resided in the tree, he was too late in
+seeking it.
+
+The trial was soon over; by pleading guilty Johnnie had made it a very
+simple matter for the court. The main thing was to sentence him. By an
+unhappy chance the judge was in one of his occasional bad moods; he had
+been entertained too well by one of the local magnates on the previous
+evening and had sat late, drinking too much wine, with the result that
+he had a bad liver, with a mind to match it. He was only too ready to
+seize the first opportunity that offered--and poor Johnnie's case was
+the first that morning--of exercising the awful power a barbarous law
+had put into his hands. When the prisoner's defender declared that this
+was a case which called loudly for mercy, the judge interrupted him to
+say that he was taking too much upon himself, that he was, in fact,
+instructing the judge in his duties, which was a piece of presumption on
+his part. The other was quick to make a humble apology and to bring his
+perfunctory address to a conclusion. The judge, in addressing the
+prisoner, said he had been unable to discover any extenuating
+circumstances in the case. The fact that he had a wife and family
+dependent on him only added to his turpitude, since it proved that no
+consideration could serve to deter him from a criminal act. Furthermore,
+in dealing with this case, he must take into account the prevalence of
+this particular form of crime; he would venture to say that it had been
+encouraged by an extreme leniency in many cases on the part of those
+whose sacred duty it was to administer the law of the land. A sterner
+and healthier spirit was called for at the present juncture. The time
+had come to make an example, and a more suitable case than the one now
+before him could not have been found for such a purpose. He would
+accordingly hold out no hope of a reprieve, but would counsel prisoner
+to make the best use of the short time remaining to him.
+
+Johnnie standing in the dock appeared to the spectators to be in a
+half-dazed condition--as dull and spiritless a clodhopper as they had
+ever beheld. The judge and barristers, in their wigs and robes and
+gowns, were unlike any human beings he had ever looked on. He might have
+been transported to some other world, so strange did the whole scene
+appear to him. He only knew, or surmised, that all these important
+people were occupied in doing him to death, but the process, the meaning
+of their fine phrases, he could not follow. He looked at them, his
+glazed eyes travelling from face to face, to be fixed finally on the
+judge, in a vacant stare; but he scarcely saw them, he was all the time
+gazing on, and his mind occupied with, other forms and scenes invisible
+to the court. His village, his Marty, his dear little playmate of long
+ago, the sweet girl he had won, the wife and mother of his children,
+with her white, terrified face, clinging to him and crying in anguish:
+"Oh, Johnnie, what will they do to 'ee?" And all the time, with it all,
+he saw the vast green slope of the down, with the Salisbury road lying
+like a narrow white band across it, and close to it, near the summit,
+the solitary old tree.
+
+During the delivery of the sentence, and when he was led from the dock
+and conveyed back to the prison, that image or vision was still present.
+He sat staring at the wall of his cell as he had stared at the judge,
+the fatal tree still before him. Never before had he seen it in that
+vivid way in which it appeared to him now, standing alone on the vast
+green down, under the wide sky, its four separate boles leaning a little
+way from each other, like the middle ribs of an open fan, holding up the
+widespread branches, the thin, open foliage, the green leaves stained
+with rusty brown and purple; and the ivy, rising like a slender black
+serpent of immense length, springing from the roots, winding upwards,
+and in and out, among the grey branches, binding them together, and
+resting its round, dark cluster of massed leaves on the topmost boughs.
+That green disc was the ivy-serpent's flat head and was the head of the
+whole tree, and there it had its eyes, which gazed for ever over the
+wide downs, watching all living things, cattle and sheep and birds and
+men in their comings and goings; and although fast-rooted in the earth,
+following them, too, in all their ways, even as it had followed him, to
+break him at last.
+
+
+
+
+POSTSCRIPT
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+DEAD MAN'S PLACK
+
+
+One of my literary friends, who has looked at the Dead Man's Plack in
+manuscript, has said by way of criticism that Elfrida's character is
+veiled. I am not to blame for that; for have I not already said, by
+implication at all events, in the Preamble, that my knowledge of her
+comes from outside. Something, or, more likely, _Somebody_, gave me her
+history, and it has occurred to me that this same Somebody was no such
+obscurity as, let us say, the Monk John of Glastonbury, who told the
+excavators just where to look for the buried chapel of Edgar, king and
+_saint_. I suspect that my informant was some one who knew more about
+Elfrida than any mere looker-on, monk or nun, and gossip-gatherer of her
+own distant day; and this suspicion or surmise was suggested by the
+following incident:
+
+After haunting Dead Man's Plack, where I had my vision, I rambled in and
+about Wherwell on account of its association, and in one of the cottages
+in the village I became acquainted with an elderly widow, a woman in
+feeble health, but singularly attractive in her person and manner.
+Indeed, before making her acquaintance I had been informed by some of
+her relations and others in the place that she was not only the best
+person to seek information from, but was also the sweetest person in the
+village. She was a native born; her family had lived there for
+generations, and she was of that best South Hampshire type with an oval
+face, olive-brown skin, black eyes and hair, and that soft melancholy
+expression in the eyes common in Spanish women and not uncommon in the
+dark-skinned Hampshire women. She had been taught at the village school,
+and having attracted the attention and interest of the great lady of the
+place on account of her intelligence and pleasing manners, she was taken
+when quite young as lady's-maid, and in this employment continued for
+many years until her marriage to a villager.
+
+One day, conversing with her, I said I had heard that the village was
+haunted by the ghost of a woman: was that true?
+
+Yes, it was true, she returned.
+
+Did she _know_ that it was true? Had she actually seen the ghost?
+
+Yes, she had seen it once. One day, when she was lady's-maid, she was in
+her bedroom, dressing or doing something, with another maid. The door
+was closed, and they were in a merry mood, talking and laughing, when
+suddenly they both at the same moment saw a woman with a still, white
+face walking through the room. She was in the middle of the room when
+they caught sight of her, and they both screamed and covered their faces
+with their hands. So great was her terror that she almost fainted; then
+in a few moments when they looked the apparition had vanished. As to the
+habit she was wearing, neither of them could say afterwards what it was
+like: only the white, still face remained fixed in their memory, but the
+figure was a dark one, like a dark shadow moving rapidly through the
+room.
+
+If Elfrida then, albeit still in purgatory, is able to re-visit this
+scene of her early life and the site of that tragedy in the forest, it
+does not seem to me altogether improbable that she herself made the
+revelation I have written. And if this be so, it would account for the
+_veiled_ character conveyed in the narrative. For even after ten
+centuries it may well be that all the coverings have not yet been
+removed, that although she has been dropping them one by one for ages,
+she has not yet come to the end of them. Until the very last covering,
+or veil, or mist is removed, it would be impossible for her to be
+absolutely sincere, to reveal her inmost soul with all that is most
+dreadful in it. But when that time comes, from the very moment of its
+coming she would cease automatically to be an exiled and tormented
+spirit.
+
+If, then, Elfrida is herself responsible for the narrative, it is only
+natural that she does not appear in it quite as black as she has been
+painted. For the monkish chronicler was, we know, the Father of Lies,
+and so indeed in a measure are all historians and biographers, since
+they cannot see into hearts and motives or know all the circumstances of
+the case. And in this case they were painting the picture of their hated
+enemy and no doubt were not sparing in the use of the black pigment.
+
+To know all is to forgive all, is a good saying, and enables us to see
+why even the worst among us can always find it possible to forgive
+himself.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+AN OLD THORN
+
+
+I was pleased at this opportunity of rescuing this story from a far-back
+number of the _English Review_, in which it first appeared, and putting
+it in a book. It may be a shock to the reader to be brought down from a
+story of a great king and queen of England in the tenth century to the
+obscure annals of a yokel and his wife who lived in a Wiltshire village
+only a century ago; or even less, since my poor yokel was hanged for
+sheep-stealing in 1821. But it is, I think, worth preserving, since it
+is the only narrative I know of dealing with that rare and curious
+subject, the survival of tree-worship in our own country. That, however,
+was not the reason of my being pleased.
+
+It was just when I had finished writing the story of Elfrida that I
+happened to see in my morning paper a highly eulogistical paragraph
+about one of our long-dead and, I imagine, forgotten worthies. The
+occasion of the paragraph doesn't matter. The man eulogised was Mr.
+Justice Park--Sir James Allan Park, a highly successful barrister, who
+was judge from 1816 to his death in 1838. "As judge, though not eminent,
+he was sound, fair and sensible, a little irascible, but highly
+esteemed." He was also the author of a religious work. And that is all
+the particular Liar who wrote his biography in the D.N.B. can tell us
+about him.
+
+It was the newspaper paragraph which reminded me that I had written
+about this same judge, giving my estimate of his character in my book,
+_A Shepherd's Life_, also that I was _thinking_ about Park, the sound
+and fair and sensible judge, when I wrote "An Old Thorn." Here then,
+with apologies to the reader for quoting from my own book, I reproduce
+what I wrote in 1905.
+
+"From these memories of the old villagers I turn to the newspapers of
+the day to make a few citations.
+
+"The law as it was did not distinguish between a case of the kind just
+related, of the starving, sorely-tempted Shergold, and that of the
+systematic thief: sheep-stealing was a capital offence and the man must
+be hanged, unless recommended to mercy, and we know what was meant by
+'mercy' in those days. That so barbarous a law existed within memory of
+people to be found living in most villages appears almost incredible to
+us; but despite the recommendations to 'mercy' usual in a large majority
+of cases, the law of that time was not more horrible than the temper of
+the men who administered it. There are good and bad among all, and in
+all professions, but there is also a black spot in most, possibly all
+hearts, which may be developed to almost any extent, to change the
+justest, wisest, most moral men into 'human devils.' In reading the old
+reports and the expressions used by the judges in their summings-up and
+sentences, it is impossible not to believe that the awful power they
+possessed, and its constant exercise, had not only produced the
+inevitable hardening effect, but had made them cruel in the true sense
+of the word. Their pleasure in passing dreadful sentences was very
+thinly disguised by certain lofty conventional phrases as to the
+necessity of upholding the law, morality, and religion; they were,
+indeed, as familiar with the name of the Deity as any ranter in a
+conventicle, and the 'enormity of the crime' was an expression as
+constantly used in the case of the theft of a loaf of bread, or of an
+old coat left hanging on a hedge, by some ill-clad, half-starved wretch,
+as in cases of burglary, arson, rape, and murder.
+
+"It is surprising to find how very few the real crimes were in those
+days, despite the misery of the people; that nearly all the 'crimes' for
+which men were sentenced to the gallows and to transportation for life,
+or for long terms, were offences which would now be sufficiently
+punished by a few weeks', or even a few days', imprisonment. Thus in
+April, 1825, I note that Mr. Justice Park commented on the heavy
+appearance of the calendar. It was not so much the number (170) of the
+offenders that excited his concern as it was the nature of the crimes
+with which they were charged. The worst crime in this instance was
+sheep-stealing!
+
+"Again, this same Mr. Justice Park, at the Spring Assizes at Salisbury,
+1827, said that though the calendar was a heavy one, he was happy to
+find, on looking at the depositions of the principal cases, that they
+were not of a very serious character. Nevertheless he passed sentence of
+death on twenty-eight persons, among them being one for stealing half a
+crown!
+
+"Of the twenty-eight all but three were eventually reprieved, one of the
+fated three being a youth of 19, who was charged with stealing a mare
+and pleaded guilty in spite of a warning from the judge not to do so.
+This irritated the great man who had the power of life and death in his
+hand. In passing sentence the judge 'expatiated on the prevalence of the
+crime of horse-stealing and the necessity of making an example. The
+enormity of Read's crime rendered him a proper example, and he would
+therefore hold out no hope of mercy towards him.' As to the plea of
+guilty, he remarked that nowadays too many persons pleaded guilty,
+deluded with the hope that it would be taken into consideration and they
+would escape the severer penalty. He was determined to put a stop to
+that sort of thing; if Read had not pleaded guilty no doubt some
+extenuating circumstance would have come up during the trial and he
+would have saved his life.
+
+"There, if ever, spoke the 'human devil' in a black cap!
+
+"I find another case of a sentence of transportation for life on a youth
+of 18, named Edward Baker, for stealing a pocket-handkerchief. Had he
+pleaded guilty it might have been worse for him.
+
+"At the Salisbury Spring Assizes, 1830, Mr. Justice Gazalee, addressing
+the grand jury, said that none of the crimes appeared to be marked with
+circumstances of great moral turpitude. The prisoners numbered 130; he
+passed sentences of death on twenty-nine, life transportations on five,
+fourteen years on five, seven years on eleven, and various terms of hard
+labour on the others." (_A Shepherd's Life_, pp. 241-4.)
+
+Johnnie Budd was done to death before my principal informants, one 89
+years old, the other 93, were born; but in their early years they knew
+the widow and her three children, and had known them and their children
+all their lives; thus the whole story of Johnnie and Marty was familiar
+to them. Now, when I thought of Johnnie's case and how he was treated at
+the trial, as it was told me by these old people, it struck me as so
+like that of the poor young man Read, who was hanged because he pleaded
+guilty, that I at once came to the belief that it was Mr. Justice Park
+who had tried him. I have accordingly searched the newspapers of that
+day, but have failed to find Johnnie's case. I can only suppose that
+this particular case was probably considered too unimportant to be
+reported at large in the newspapers of 1821. He was just one of a number
+convicted and sentenced to capital punishment.
+
+When Johnnie was hanged his poor wife travelled to Salisbury and
+succeeded in getting permission to take the body back to the village for
+burial. How she in her poverty, with her three little children to keep,
+managed it I don't know. Probably some of the other poor villagers who
+pitied and perhaps loved her helped her to do it. She did even more: she
+had a grave-stone set above him with his name and the dates of his birth
+and death cut on it. And there it is now, within a dozen yards of the
+church door in the small old churchyard--the smallest village churchyard
+known to me; and Johnnie's and Marty's children's children are still
+living in the village.
+
+
+FINIS
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE WORKS OF W. H. HUDSON
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS OF LA PLATA
+
+With 22 Coloured Plates by H. Gronvold, specially drawn under
+the Author's supervision.
+
+This book contains articles on some 200 birds of La Plata actually known
+to the Author, arranged under species, and characterised by that
+intimate personal touch which constitutes the chief charm of his
+writing. Originally published in 1888 under the title _Argentine
+Ornithology_, in collaboration with Philip Lutley Sclater, it has now
+been thoroughly revised by Mr. Hudson, who has deleted all except his
+own work, and has written a new Introduction of considerable length.
+
+The coloured plates of this new book have been done by Mr. H. Gronvold,
+under the most careful supervision of the Author, whose intimate
+knowledge of the birds in their life and true environment has helped the
+artist to give a vivid and faithful presentment of the different
+species.
+
+The illustrations constitute an integral part of the book itself, and
+are not mere decorative additions. This book now forms a companion
+volume to another work of Mr. Hudson's, _The Naturalist in La Plata_.
+
+
+
+
+A COMPANION VOLUME
+
+THE NATURALIST IN LA PLATA
+
+
+_The Naturalist in La Plata_ can now be obtained in a new and cheaper
+edition than the original, which was first published in 1892. The
+letterpress and the drawings in the text by J. Smit have been left as
+they were; the only change is in the form of the book and in the
+substitution of new plates for the old ones. This book forms a companion
+volume to _Birds of La Plata_.
+
+
+
+
+FAR AWAY AND LONG AGO
+
+An Autobiographical Sketch of the Writer's Boyhood
+
+"To read his book is to read another chapter in that enormous book which
+is written from time to time by Rousseau and George Sand and Aksakoff
+among other people--a book which we can never read enough of; and
+therefore we must beg Mr. Hudson not to stop here, but to carry the
+story on to the farthest possible limits."--_Times Literary Supplement._
+
+"A low-pitched narrative, but once listened to it is as enthralling as
+Mr. Hudson found the voice of the golden plover."--_Athenæum._
+
+"He who does not know the work of W. H. Hudson is missing one of the
+finest pleasures of contemporary literature."--_Daily News._
+
+"Regarding the author hitherto primarily as a naturalist we rediscover
+him as an acute psychologist.... For many readers the chief interest of
+the book will lie in the charming reflective presentment of the thoughts
+of a boy's mind."--_Bookman._
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE
+
+With 8 Coloured Plates after E. J. Detmold
+
+Head and Tail Pieces by Herbert Cole
+
+"Mr. Hudson loves all birds; they are his work, his recreation, his
+life; he writes about them as no one else can: he sees what others
+miss."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
+"This book is full of his unsurpassed perception and unique
+charm.... Some of his best passages about birds are equally delightful
+and vivid sketches of human life."--_Times Literary Supplement._
+
+"Mr. Hudson is more than a naturalist. He is a man of genius who
+transmutes lead into gold--the lead of knowledge into the gold of
+feeling.... As you hear the music of his prose ... you recapture
+the delicious tenderness of childhood with its wistful wonder and
+vision.... Mr. Hudson is a nightingale naturalist with a voice that
+throbs in waves of magical melody."
+
+--James Douglas in _The Star_.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn, by 
+William Henry Hudson
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEAD MAN'S PLACK AND AN OLD THORN ***
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn, by 
+William Henry Hudson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn
+
+Author: William Henry Hudson
+
+Release Date: November 1, 2006 [EBook #19691]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEAD MAN'S PLACK AND AN OLD THORN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Susan Skinner, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="illus_002" id="illus_002"></a>
+<img src="images/illus_002.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+
+<h1>DEAD MAN'S PLACK</h1>
+
+<h3>AND</h3>
+
+<h2>AN OLD THORN</h2>
+
+<h3>BY W. H. HUDSON</h3>
+
+<h4>1920<br />
+LONDON &amp; TORONTO<br />
+J. M. DENT &amp; SONS LTD.<br />
+<span class="smcap">New York</span>: E. P. DUTTON &amp; CO.</h4>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#DEAD_MANS_PLACK">DEAD MAN'S PLACK</a><br />
+<a href="#PREAMBLE">PREAMBLE</a><br />
+<a href="#I">I</a><br />
+<a href="#II">II</a><br />
+<a href="#III">III</a><br />
+<a href="#IV">IV</a><br />
+<a href="#V">V</a><br />
+<a href="#VI">VI</a><br />
+<a href="#VII">VII</a><br />
+<a href="#VIII">VIII</a><br />
+<a href="#IX">IX</a><br />
+<a href="#X">X</a><br />
+<a href="#XI">XI</a><br />
+<a href="#XII">XII</a><br /><br />
+<a href="#AN_OLD_THORN">AN OLD THORN</a><br />
+<a href="#I2">I</a><br />
+<a href="#II2">II</a><br />
+<a href="#III2">III</a><br /><br />
+<a href="#POSTSCRIPT">POSTSCRIPT</a><br />
+<a href="#I3">I</a><br />
+<a href="#II3">II</a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+
+<p><a href="#illus_001">DEAD MAN'S PLACK</a></p>
+<p><a href="#illus_003">HAWTHORN AND IVY, NEAR THE GREAT RIDGE WOOD</a></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="DEAD_MANS_PLACK" id="DEAD_MANS_PLACK"></a>DEAD MAN'S PLACK</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="illus_001" id="illus_001"></a>
+<img src="images/illus_001.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>DEAD MAN'S PLACK.</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2><a name="PREAMBLE" id="PREAMBLE"></a>PREAMBLE</h2>
+
+
+<p>"The insect tribes of human kind" is a mode of expression we are
+familiar with in the poets, moralists and other superior persons, or
+beings, who viewing mankind from their own vast elevation see us all
+more or less of one size and very, very small. No doubt the comparison
+dates back to early, probably Pliocene, times, when some one climbed to
+the summit of a very tall cliff, and looking down and seeing his fellows
+so diminished in size as to resemble insects, not so gross as beetles
+perhaps but rather like emmets, he laughed in the way they laughed then
+at the enormous difference between his stature and theirs. Hence the
+time-honoured and serviceable metaphor.</p>
+
+<p>Now with me, in this particular instance, it was all the other way
+about&mdash;from insect to man&mdash;seeing that it was when occupied in watching
+the small comedies and tragedies of the insect world on its stage that I
+stumbled by chance upon a compelling reminder of one of the greatest
+tragedies in England's history&mdash;greatest, that is to say, in its
+consequences. And this is how it happened.</p>
+
+<p>One summer day, prowling in an extensive oak wood, in Hampshire, known
+as Harewood Forest, I discovered that it counted among its inhabitants
+no fewer than three species of insects of peculiar interest to me, and
+from that time I haunted it, going there day after day to spend long
+hours in pursuit of my small quarry. Not to kill and preserve their
+diminutive corpses in a cabinet, but solely to witness the comedy of
+their brilliant little lives. And as I used to take my luncheon in my
+pocket I fell into the habit of going to a particular spot, some opening
+in the dense wood with a big tree to lean against and give me shade,
+where after refreshing myself with food and drink I could smoke my pipe
+in solitude and peace. Eventually I came to prefer one spot for my
+midday rest in the central part of the wood, where a stone cross,
+slender, beautifully proportioned and about eighteen feet high, had been
+erected some seventy or eighty years before by the lord of the manor. On
+one side of the great stone block on which the cross stood there was an
+inscription which told that it was placed there to mark the spot known
+from of old as Dead Man's Plack; that, according to tradition, handed
+from father to son, it was just here that King Edgar slew his friend and
+favourite Earl Athelwold, when hunting in the forest.</p>
+
+<p>I had sat there on many occasions, and had glanced from time to time at
+the inscription cut on the stone, once actually reading it, without
+having my attention drawn away from the insect world I was living in. It
+was not the tradition of the Saxon king nor the beauty of the cross in
+that green wilderness which drew me daily to the spot, but its
+solitariness and the little open space where I could sit in the shade
+and have my rest.</p>
+
+<p>Then something happened. Some friends from town came down to me at the
+hamlet I was staying at, and one of the party, the mother of most of
+them, was not only older than the rest of us in years, but also in
+knowledge and wisdom; and at the same time she was younger than the
+youngest of us, since she had the curious mind, the undying interest in
+everything on earth&mdash;the secret, in fact, of everlasting youth.
+Naturally, being of this temperament, she wanted to know what I was
+doing and all about what I had seen, even to the minutest detail&mdash;the
+smallest insect&mdash;and in telling her of my days I spoke casually of the
+cross placed at a spot called Dead Man's Plack. This at once reminded
+her of something she had heard about it before, but long ago, in the
+seventies of last century; then presently it all came back to her, and
+it proved to me an interesting story.</p>
+
+<p>It chanced that in that far back time she was in correspondence on
+certain scientific and literary subjects with a gentleman who was a
+native of this part of Hampshire in which we were staying, and that they
+got into a discussion about Freeman, the historian, during which he told
+her of an incident of his undergraduate days when Freeman was professor
+at Oxford. He attended a lecture by that man on the Mythical and
+Romantic Elements in Early English History, in which he stated for the
+guidance of all who study the past, that they must always bear in mind
+the inevitable passion for romance in men, especially the uneducated,
+and that when the student comes upon a romantic incident in early
+history, even when it accords with the known character of the person it
+relates to, he must reject it as false. Then, to rub the lesson in, he
+gave an account of the most flagrant of the romantic lies contained in
+the history of the Saxon kings. This was the story of King Edgar, and
+how his favourite, Earl Athelwold, deceived him as to the reputed beauty
+of Elfrida, and how Edgar in revenge slew Athelwold with his own hand
+when hunting. Then&mdash;to show how false it all was!&mdash;Edgar, the chronicles
+state, was at Salisbury and rode in one day to Harewood Forest and there
+slew Athelwold. Now, said Freeman, as Harewood Forest is in Yorkshire,
+Edgar could not have ridden there from Salisbury in one day, nor in two,
+nor in three, which was enough to show that the whole story was a
+fabrication.</p>
+
+<p>The undergraduate, listening to the lecturer, thought the Professor was
+wrong owing to his ignorance of the fact that the Harewood Forest in
+which the deed was done was in Hampshire, within a day's ride from
+Salisbury, and that local tradition points to the very spot in the
+forest where Athelwold was slain. Accordingly he wrote to the Professor
+and gave him these facts. His letter was not answered; and the poor
+youth felt hurt, as he thought he was doing Professor Freeman a service
+by telling him something he didn't know. <i>He</i> didn't know his Professor
+Freeman.</p>
+
+<p>This story about Freeman tickled me, because I dislike him, but if any
+one were to ask me why I dislike him I should probably have to answer
+like a woman: Because I do. Or if stretched on the rack until I could
+find or invent a better reason I should perhaps say it was because he
+was so infernally cock-sure, so convinced that he and he alone had the
+power of distinguishing between the true and false; also that he was so
+arbitrary and arrogant and ready to trample on those who doubted his
+infallibility.</p>
+
+<p>All this, I confess, would not be much to say against him, seeing that
+it is nothing but the ordinary professorial or academic mind, and I
+suppose that the only difference between Freeman and the ruck of the
+professors was that he was more impulsive or articulate and had a
+greater facility in expressing his scorn.</p>
+
+<p>Here I may mention in passing that when this lecture appeared in print
+in his <i>Historical Essays</i> he had evidently been put out a little, and
+also put on his mettle by that letter from an undergraduate, and had
+gone more deeply into the documents relating to the incident, seeing
+that he now relied mainly on the discrepancies in half a dozen
+chronicles he was able to point out to prove its falsity. His former
+main argument now appeared as a "small matter of detail"&mdash;a "confusion
+of geography" in the different versions of the old historians. But one
+tells us, Freeman writes, that Athelwold was killed in the Forest of
+Wherwell on his way to York, and then he says: "Now as Wherwell is in
+Hampshire, it could not be on the road to York;" and further on he says:
+"Now Harewood Forest in Yorkshire is certainly not the same as Wherwell
+in Hampshire," and so on, and on, and on, but always careful not to say
+that Wherwell Forest and Harewood Forest are two names for one and the
+same place, although now the name of Wherwell is confined to the village
+on the Test, where it is supposed Athelwold had his castle and lived
+with his wife before he was killed, and where Elfrida in her declining
+years, when trying to make her peace with God, came and built a Priory
+and took the habit herself and there finished her darkened life.</p>
+
+<p>This then was how he juggled with words and documents and chronicles
+(his thimble-rigging), making a truth a lie or a lie a truth according
+as it suited a froward and prejudicate mind, to quote the expression of
+an older and simpler-minded historian&mdash;Sir Walter Raleigh.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, to wind up the whole controversy, he says you are to take it as
+a positive truth that Edgar married Elfrida, and a positive falsehood
+that Edgar killed Athelwold. Why&mdash;seeing there is as good authority and
+reason for believing the one statement as the other? A foolish question!
+Why?&mdash;Because I, Professor or Pope Freeman, say so!</p>
+
+<p>The main thing here is the effect the Freeman anecdote had on me, which
+was that when I went back to continue my insect-watching and rested at
+noon at Dead Man's Plack, the old legend would keep intruding itself on
+my mind, until, wishing to have done with it, I said and I swore that it
+was true&mdash;that the tradition preserved in the neighbourhood, that on
+this very spot Athelwold was slain by the king, was better than any
+document or history. It was an act which had been witnessed by many
+persons, and the memory of it preserved and handed down from father to
+son for thirty generations; for it must be borne in mind that the
+inhabitants of this district of Andover and the villages on the Test
+have never in the last thousand years been exterminated or expelled. And
+ten centuries is not so long for an event of so startling a character to
+persist in the memory of the people when we consider that such
+traditions have come down to us even from prehistoric times and have
+proved true. Our arch&aelig;ologists, for example, after long study of the
+remains, cannot tell us how long ago&mdash;centuries or thousands of years&mdash;a
+warrior with golden armour was buried under the great cairn at Mold in
+Flintshire.</p>
+
+<p>And now the curious part of all this matter comes in. Having taken my
+side in the controversy and made my pronouncement, I found that I was
+not yet free of it. It remained with me, but in a new way&mdash;not as an old
+story in old books, but as an event, or series of events, now being
+re-enacted before my very eyes. I actually saw and heard it all, from
+the very beginning to the dreadful end; and this is what I am now going
+to relate. But whether or not I shall in my relation be in close accord
+with what history tells us I know not, nor does it matter in the least.
+For just as the religious mystic is exempt from the study of theology
+and the whole body of religious doctrine, and from all the observances
+necessary to those who in fear and trembling are seeking their
+salvation, even so those who have been brought to the <i>Gate of
+Remembrance</i> are independent of written documents, chronicles and
+histories, and of the weary task of separating the false from the true.
+They have better sources of information. For I am not so vain as to
+imagine for one moment that without such external aid I am able to make
+shadows breathe, revive the dead, and know what silent mouths once said.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2>
+
+
+<p>When, sitting at noon in the shade of an oak tree at Dead Man's Plack, I
+beheld Edgar, I almost ceased to wonder at the miracle that had happened
+in this war-mad, desolated England, where Saxon and Dane, like two
+infuriated bull-dogs, were everlastingly at grips, striving to tear each
+other's throats out, and deluging the country with blood; how, ceasing
+from their strife, they had all at once agreed to live in peace and
+unity side by side under the young king; and this seemingly unnatural
+state of things endured even to the end of his life, on which account he
+was called Edgar the Peaceful.</p>
+
+<p>He was beautiful in person and had infinite charm, and these gifts,
+together with his kingly qualities, which have won the admiration of all
+men of all ages, endeared him to his people. He was but thirteen when he
+came to be king of united England, and small for his age, but even in
+these terrible times he was remarkable for his courage, both physical
+and moral. Withal he had a subtle mind; indeed, I think he surpassed all
+our kings of the past thousand years in combining so many excellent
+qualities. His was the wisdom of the serpent combined with the
+gentleness&mdash;I will not say of the dove, but rather of the cat, our
+little tiger on the hearthrug, the most beautiful of four-footed things,
+so lithe, so soft, of so affectionate a disposition, yet capable when
+suddenly roused to anger of striking with lightning rapidity and rending
+the offender's flesh with its cruel, unsheathed claws.</p>
+
+<p>Consider the line he took, even as a boy! He recognised among all those
+who surrounded him, in his priestly adviser, the one man of so great a
+mind as to be capable of assisting him effectually in ruling so divided,
+war-loving and revengeful a people, and he allowed him practically
+unlimited power to do as he liked. He went even further by pretending to
+fall in with Dunstan's ambitions of purging the Church of the order of
+priests or half-priests, or canons, who were in possession of most of
+the religious houses in England, and were priests that married wives and
+owned lands and had great power. Against this monstrous state of things
+Edgar rose up in his simulated wrath and cried out to Archbishop Dunstan
+in a speech he delivered to sweep them away and purify the Church and
+country from such a scandal!</p>
+
+<p>But Edgar himself had a volcanic heart, and to witness it in full
+eruption it was only necessary to convey to him the tidings of some
+woman of a rare loveliness; and have her he would, in spite of all laws
+human and divine. Thus when inflamed with passion for a beautiful nun he
+did not hesitate to smash the gates of a convent to drag her forth and
+forcibly make her his mistress. And this too was a dreadful scandal, but
+no great pother could be made about it, seeing that Edgar was so
+powerful a friend of the Church and of pure religion.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Now all the foregoing is contained in the histories, but in what follows
+I have for sole light and guide the vision that came to me at Dead Man's
+Plack, and have only to add to this introductory note that Edgar at the
+early age of twenty-two was a widower, having already had to wife
+Ethelfled the Fair, who was famous for her beauty, and who died shortly
+after giving birth to a child who lived to figure later in history as
+one of England's many Edwards.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2>
+
+
+<p>Now although King Edgar had dearly loved his wife, who was also beloved
+by all his people on account of her sweet and gentle disposition as well
+as of her exceeding beauty, it was not in his nature to brood long over
+such a loss. He had too keen a zest for life and the many interests and
+pleasures it had for him ever to become a melancholy man. It was a
+delight to him to be king, and to perform all kingly duties and offices.
+Also he was happy in his friends, especially in his favourite, the Earl
+Athelwold, who was like him in character, a man after his own heart.
+They were indeed like brothers, and some of those who surrounded the
+king were not too well pleased to witness this close intimacy. Both were
+handsome men, witty, of a genial disposition, yet under a light careless
+manner brave and ardent, devoted to the pleasure of the chase and all
+other pleasures, especially to those bestowed by golden Aphrodite, their
+chosen saint, albeit her name did not figure in the Calendar.</p>
+
+<p>Hence it was not strange, when certain reports of the wonderful beauty
+of a woman in the West Country were brought to Edgar's ears that his
+heart began to burn within him, and that by and by he opened himself to
+his friend on the subject. He told Athelwold that he had discovered the
+one woman in England fit to be Ethelfled's successor, and that he had
+resolved to make her his queen although he had never seen her, since she
+and her father had never been to court. That, however, would not deter
+him; there was no other woman in the land whose claims were equal to
+hers, seeing that she was the only daughter and part heiress of one of
+the greatest men in the kingdom, Ongar, Earldoman of Devon and Somerset,
+a man of vast possessions and great power. Yet all that was of less
+account to him than her fame, her personal worth, since she was reputed
+to be the most beautiful woman in the land. It was for her beauty that
+he desired her, and being of an exceedingly impatient temper in any case
+in which beauty in a woman was concerned, he desired his friend to
+proceed at once to Earl Ongar in Devon with an offer of marriage to his
+daughter, Elfrida, from the king.</p>
+
+<p>Athelwold laughed at Edgar in this his most solemn and kingly mood, and
+with a friend's privilege told him not to be so simple as to buy a pig
+in a poke. The lady, he said, had not been to court, consequently she
+had not been seen by those best able to judge of her reputed beauty. Her
+fame rested wholly on the report of the people of her own country, who
+were great as every one knew at blowing their own trumpets. Their red
+and green county was England's paradise; their men the bravest and
+handsomest and their women the most beautiful in the land. For his part
+he believed there were as good men and as fair women in Mercia and East
+Anglia as in the West. It would certainly be an awkward business if the
+king found himself bound in honour to wed with a person he did not like.
+Awkward because of her father's fierce pride and power. A better plan
+would be to send some one he could trust not to make a mistake to find
+out the truth of the report.</p>
+
+<p>Edgar was pleased at his friend's wise caution, and praised him for his
+candour, which was that of a true friend, and as he was the only man he
+could thoroughly trust in such a matter he would send him. Accordingly,
+Athelwold, still much amused at Edgar's sudden wish to make an offer of
+marriage to a woman he had never seen, set out on his journey in great
+state with many attendants as befitted his person and his mission, which
+was ostensibly to bear greetings and loving messages from the king to
+some of his most important subjects in the West Country.</p>
+
+<p>In this way he travelled through Wilts, Somerset and Devon, and in due
+time arrived at Earl Ongar's castle on the Exe.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2>
+
+
+<p>Athelwold, who thought highly of himself, had undertaken his mission
+with a light heart, but now when his progress in the West had brought
+him to the great earldoman's castle it was borne in on him that he had
+put himself in a very responsible position. He was here to look at this
+woman with cold, critical eyes, which was easy enough; and having looked
+at and measured and weighed her, he would make a true report to Edgar;
+that too would be easy for him, since all his power and happiness in
+life depended on the king's continual favour. But Ongar stood between
+him and the woman he had come to see and take stock of with that clear
+unbiassed judgment which he could safely rely on. And Ongar was a proud
+and stern old man, jealous of his great position, who had not hesitated
+to say on Edgar's accession to the kingship, knowing well that his words
+would be reported in due time, that he refused to be one of the crowd
+who came flocking from all over the land to pay homage to a boy. It thus
+came about that neither then nor at any subsequent period had there been
+any personal relations between the king and this English subject, who
+was prouder than all the Welsh kings who had rushed at Edgar's call to
+make their submission.</p>
+
+<p>But now when Ongar had been informed that the king's intimate friend and
+confidant was on his way to him with greetings and loving messages from
+Edgar, he was flattered, and resolved to receive him in a friendly and
+loyal spirit and do him all the honour in his power. For Edgar was no
+longer a boy: he was king over all this hitherto turbulent realm, East
+and West from sea to sea and from the Land's End to the Tweed, and the
+strange enduring peace of the times was a proof of his power.</p>
+
+<p>It thus came to pass that Athelwold's mission was made smooth to him,
+and when they met and conversed, the fierce old Earl was so well pleased
+with his visitor, that all trace of the sullen hostility he had
+cherished towards the court passed away like the shadow of a cloud. And
+later, in the banqueting-room, Athelwold came face to face with the
+woman he had come to look at with cold, critical eyes, like one who
+examines a horse in the interests of a friend who desires to become its
+purchaser.</p>
+
+<p>Down to that fatal moment the one desire of his heart was to serve his
+friend faithfully in this delicate business. Now, the first sight of
+her, the first touch of her hand, wrought a change in him, and all
+thought of Edgar and of the purpose of his visit vanished out of his
+mind. Even he, one of the great nobles of his time, the accomplished
+courtier and life of the court, stood silent like a person spell-bound
+before this woman who had been to no court, but had lived always with
+that sullen old man in comparative seclusion in a remote province. It
+was not only the beautiful dignity and graciousness with which she
+received him, with the exquisite beauty in the lines and colour of her
+face, and her hair which, if unloosed, would have covered her to the
+knees as with a splendid mantle. That hair of a colour comparable only
+to that of the sweet gale when that sweet plant is in its golden withy
+or catkin stage in the month of May, and is clothed with catkins as with
+a foliage of a deep shining red gold, that seems not a colour of earth
+but rather one distilled from the sun itself. Nor was it the colour of
+her eyes, the deep pure blue of the lungwort, that blue loveliness seen
+in no other flower on earth. Rather it was the light from her eyes which
+was like lightning that pierced and startled him; for that light, that
+expression, was a living spirit looking through his eyes into the depths
+of his soul, knowing all its strength and weakness, and in the same
+instant resolving to make it her own and have dominion over it.</p>
+
+<p>It was only when he had escaped from the power and magic of her
+presence, when alone in his sleeping room, that reflection came to him
+and the recollection of Edgar and of his mission. And there was dismay
+in the thought. For the woman was his, part and parcel of his heart and
+soul and life; for that was what her lightning glance had said to him,
+and she could not be given to another. No, not to the king! Had any man,
+any friend, ever been placed in so terrible a position? Honour? Loyalty?
+To whichever side he inclined he could not escape the crime, the base
+betrayal and abandonment! But loyalty to the king would be the greater
+crime. Had not Edgar himself broken every law of God and man to gratify
+his passion for a woman? Not a woman like this! Never would Edgar look
+on her until he, Athelwold, had obeyed her and his own heart and made
+her his for ever! And what would come then! He would not consider it&mdash;he
+would perish rather than yield her to another!</p>
+
+<p>That was how the question came before him, and how it was settled,
+during the long sleepless hours when his blood was in a fever and his
+brain on fire; but when day dawned and his blood grew cold and his brain
+was tired, the image of Edgar betrayed and in a deadly rage became
+insistent, and he rose desponding and in dread of the meeting to come.
+And no sooner did he meet her than she overcame him as on the previous
+day; and so it continued during the whole period of his visit, racked
+with passion, drawn now to this side, now to that, and when he was most
+resolved to have her then most furiously assaulted by loyalty, by
+friendship, by honour, and he was like a stag at bay fighting for his
+life against the hounds. And every time he met her&mdash;and the passionate
+words he dared not speak were like confined fire, burning him up
+inwardly&mdash;seeing him pale and troubled she would greet him with a smile
+and look which told him she knew that he was troubled in heart, that a
+great conflict was raging in him, also that it was on her account and
+was perhaps because he had already bound himself to some other woman,
+some great lady of the land; and now this new passion had come to him.
+And her smile and look were like the world-irradiating sun when it
+rises, and the black menacing cloud that brooded over his soul would
+fade and vanish, and he knew that she had again claimed him and that he
+was hers.</p>
+
+<p>So it continued till the very moment of parting, and again as on their
+first meeting he stood silent and troubled before her; then in faltering
+words told her that the thought of her would travel and be with him;
+that in a little while, perhaps in a month or two, he would be rid of a
+great matter which had been weighing heavily on his mind, and once free
+he could return to Devon, if she would consent to his paying her another
+visit.</p>
+
+<p>She replied smilingly with gracious words, with no change from that
+exquisite perfect dignity which was always hers; nor tremor in her
+speech, but only that understanding look from her eyes, which said: Yes,
+you shall come back to me in good time, when you have smoothed the way,
+to claim me for your own.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2>
+
+
+<p>On Athelwold's return the king embraced him warmly, and was quick to
+observe a change in him&mdash;the thinner, paler face and appearance
+generally of one lately recovered from a grievous illness or who had
+been troubled in mind. Athelwold explained that it had been a painful
+visit to him, due in the first place to the anxiety he experienced of
+being placed in so responsible a position, and in the second place the
+misery it was to him to be the guest for many days of such a person as
+the earldoman, a man of a rough, harsh aspect and manner, who daily made
+himself drunk at table, after which he would grow intolerably garrulous
+and boastful. Then, when his host had been carried to bed by his
+servants, his own wakeful, troubled hours would begin. For at first he
+had been struck by the woman's fine, handsome presence, albeit she was
+not the peerless beauty she had been reported; but when he had seen her
+often and more closely and had conversed with her he had been
+disappointed. There was something lacking; she had not the softness, the
+charm, desirable in a woman; she had something of her parent's
+harshness, and his final judgment was that she was not a suitable person
+for the king to marry.</p>
+
+<p>Edgar was a little cast down at first, but quickly recovering his genial
+manner, thanked his friend for having served him so well.</p>
+
+<p>For several weeks following the king and the king's favourite were
+constantly together; and during that period Athelwold developed a
+peculiar sweetness and affection towards Edgar, often recalling to him
+their happy boyhood's days in East Anglia, when they were like brothers,
+and cemented the close friendship which was to last them for the whole
+of their lives. Finally, when it seemed to his watchful, crafty mind
+that Edgar had cast the whole subject of his wish to marry Elfrida into
+oblivion, and that the time was now ripe for carrying out his own
+scheme, he reopened the subject, and said that although the lady was not
+a suitable person to be the king's wife it would be good policy on his,
+Athelwold's, part, to win her on account of her position as only
+daughter and part heiress of Ongar, who had great power and possessions
+in the West. But he would not move in the matter without Edgar's
+consent.</p>
+
+<p>Edgar, ever ready to do anything to please his friend, freely gave it,
+and only asked him to give an assurance that the secret object of his
+former visit to Devon would remain inviolate. Accordingly Athelwold took
+a solemn oath that it would never be revealed, and Edgar then slapped
+him on the back and wished him Godspeed in his wooing.</p>
+
+<p>Very soon after thus smoothing the way, Athelwold returned to Devon, and
+was once more in the presence of the woman who had so enchanted him,
+with that same meaning smile on her lips and light in her eyes which had
+been her good-bye and her greeting, only now it said to him: You have
+returned as I knew you would, and I am ready to give myself to you.</p>
+
+<p>From every point of view it was a suitable union, seeing that Athelwold
+would inherit power and great possessions from his father, Earldoman of
+East Anglia, and before long the marriage took place, and by and by
+Athelwold took his wife to Wessex, to the castle he had built for
+himself on his estate of Wherwell, on the Test. There they lived
+together, and as they had married for love they were happy.</p>
+
+<p>But as the king's intimate friend and the companion of many of his
+frequent journeys he could not always bide with her nor be with her for
+any great length of time. For Edgar had a restless spirit and was
+exceedingly vigilant, and liked to keep a watchful eye on the different
+lately hostile nations of Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria, so that
+his journeys were frequent and long to these distant parts of his
+kingdom. And he also had his naval forces to inspect at frequent
+intervals. Thus it came about that he was often absent from her for
+weeks and months at a stretch. And so the time went on, and during these
+long absences a change would come over Elfrida; the lovely colour, the
+enchanting smile, the light of her eyes&mdash;the outward sign of an intense
+brilliant life&mdash;would fade, and with eyes cast down she would pace the
+floors or the paths or sit brooding in silence by the hour.</p>
+
+<p>Of all this Athelwold knew nothing, since she made no complaint, and
+when he returned to her the light and life and brilliance would be hers
+again, and there was no cloud or shadow on his delight. But the cloud
+would come back over her when he again went away. Her only relief in her
+condition was to sit before a fire or when out of doors to seat herself
+on the bank of the stream and watch the current. For although it was
+still summer, the month being August, she would have a fire of logs
+lighted in a large chamber and sit staring at the flames by the hour,
+and sometimes holding her outstretched hands before the flames until
+they were hot, she would then press them to her lips. Or when the day
+was warm and bright she would be out of doors and spend hours by the
+river gazing at the swift crystal current below as if fascinated by the
+sight of the running water. It is a marvellously clear water, so that
+looking down on it you can see the rounded pebbles in all their various
+colours and markings lying at the bottom, and if there should be a trout
+lying there facing the current and slowly waving his tail from side to
+side, you could count the red spots on his side, so clear is the water.
+Even more did the floating water-grass hold her gaze&mdash;that bright green
+grass that, rooted in the bed of the stream, sends its thin blades to
+the surface where they float and wave like green floating hair.
+Stooping, she would dip a hand in the stream and watch the bright clear
+water running through the fingers of her white hand, then press the hand
+to her lips.</p>
+
+<p>Then again when day declined she would quit the stream to sit before the
+blazing logs, staring at the flames. What am I doing here? she would
+murmur. And what is this my life? When I was at home in Devon I had a
+dream of Winchester, of Salisbury, or other great towns further away,
+where the men and women who are great in the land meet together, and
+where my eyes would perchance sometimes have the happiness to behold the
+king himself&mdash;my husband's close friend and companion. My waking has
+brought a different scene before me; this castle in the wilderness, a
+solitude where from an upper window I look upon leagues of forest, a
+haunt of wild animals. I see great birds soaring in the sky and listen
+to the shrill screams of kite and buzzard; and sometimes when lying
+awake on a still night the distant long howl of a wolf. Also, it is
+said, there are great stags, and roe-deer, and wild boars, and it is
+Athelwold's joy to hunt them and slay them with his spear. A joy too
+when he returns from the hunt or from a long absence to play with his
+beautiful wife&mdash;his caged bird of pretty feathers and a sweet song to
+soothe him when he is tired. But of his life at court he tells me
+little, and of even that little I doubt the truth. Then he leaves me and
+I am alone with his retainers&mdash;the crowd of serving men and women and
+the armed men to safeguard me. I am alone with my two friends which I
+have found, one out of doors, the other in&mdash;the river which runs at the
+bottom of the ground where I take my walks, and the fire I sit before.
+The two friends, companions, and lovers to whom all the secrets of my
+soul are confided. I love them, having no other in the world to love,
+and here I hold my hands before the flames until it is hot and then kiss
+the heat, and by the stream I kiss my wetted hands. And if I were to
+remain here until this life became unendurable I should consider as to
+which one of these two lovers I should give myself. This one I think is
+too ardent in his love&mdash;it would be terrible to be wrapped round in his
+fiery arms and feel his fiery mouth on mine. I should rather go to the
+other one to lie down on his pebbly bed, and give myself to him to hold
+me in his cool, shining arms and mix his green hair with my loosened
+hair. But my wish is to live and not die. Let me then wait a little
+longer; let me watch and listen, and perhaps some day, by and by, from
+his own lips, I shall capture the secret of this my caged solitary life.</p>
+
+<p>And the very next day Athelwold, having just returned with the king to
+Salisbury, was once more with her; and the brooding cloud had vanished
+from her life and countenance; she was once more his passionate bride,
+lavishing caresses on him, listening with childish delight to every word
+that fell from his lips, and desiring no other life and no greater
+happiness than this.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was early September, and the king with some of the nobles who were
+with him, after hunting the deer over against Cranbourne, returned at
+evening to Salisbury, and after meat with some of his intimates they sat
+late drinking wine and fell into a merry, boisterous mood. They spoke of
+Athelwold, who was not with them, and indulged in some mocking remarks
+about his frequent and prolonged absences from the king's company. Edgar
+took it in good part and smilingly replied that it had been reported to
+him that the earl was now wedded to a woman with a will. Also he knew
+that her father, the great Earldoman of Devon, had been famed for his
+tremendous physical strength. It was related of him that he had once
+been charged by a furious bull, that he had calmly waited the onset and
+had dealt the animal a staggering blow with his fist on its head and had
+then taken it up in his arms and hurled it into the river Exe. If, he
+concluded, the daughter had inherited something of this power it was not
+to be wondered at that she was able to detain her husband at home.</p>
+
+<p>Loud laughter followed this pleasantry of the king's, then one of the
+company remarked that not a woman's will, though it might be like steel
+of the finest temper, nor her muscular power, would serve to change
+Athelwold's nature or keep him from his friend, but only a woman's
+exceeding beauty.</p>
+
+<p>Then Edgar, seeing that he had been put upon the defence of his absent
+friend, and that all of them were eager to hear his next word, replied
+that there was no possession a man was prouder of than that of a
+beautiful wife; that it was more to him than his own best qualities, his
+greatest actions, or than titles and lands and gold. If Athelwold had
+indeed been so happy as to secure the most beautiful woman he would have
+been glad to bring her to court to exhibit her to all&mdash;friends and foes
+alike&mdash;for his own satisfaction and glory.</p>
+
+<p>Again they greeted his speech with laughter, and one cried out: Do you
+believe it?</p>
+
+<p>Then another, bolder still, exclaimed: It's God's truth that she is the
+fairest woman in the land&mdash;perhaps no fairer has been in any land since
+Helen of Troy. This I can swear to, he added, smiting the board with his
+hand, because I have it from one who saw her at her home in Devon before
+her marriage. One who is a better judge in such matters than I am or
+than any one at this table, not excepting the king, seeing that he is
+not only gifted with the serpent's wisdom but with that creature's cold
+blood as well.</p>
+
+<p>Edgar heard him frowningly, then ended the discussion by rising, and
+silence fell on the company, for all saw that he was offended. But he
+was not offended with them, since they knew nothing of his and
+Athelwold's secret, and what they thought and felt about his friend was
+nothing to him. But these fatal words about Elfrida's beauty had pierced
+him with a sudden suspicion of his friend's treachery. And Athelwold was
+the man he greatly loved&mdash;the companion of all his years since their
+boyhood together. Had he betrayed him in this monstrous way&mdash;wounding
+him in his tenderest part? The very thought that such a thing might be
+was like a madness in him. Then he reflected&mdash;then he remembered, and
+said to himself: Yes, let me follow his teaching in this matter too, as
+in the other, and exercise caution and look before I leap. I shall look
+and look well and see and judge for myself.</p>
+
+<p>The result was that when his boon companions next met him there was no
+shadow of displeasure in him; he was in a peculiarly genial mood, and so
+continued. And when his friend returned he embraced him and gently
+upbraided him for having kept away for so long a time. He begged him to
+remember that he was his one friend and confidant who was more than a
+brother to him, and that if wholly deprived of his company he would
+regard himself as the loneliest man in the kingdom. Then in a short time
+he spoke once more in the same strain, and said he had not yet
+sufficiently honoured his friend before the world, and that he proposed
+visiting him at his own castle to make the acquaintance of his wife and
+spend a day with him hunting the boar in Harewood Forest.</p>
+
+<p>Athelwold, secretly alarmed, made a suitable reply, expressing his
+delight at the prospect of receiving the king, and begging him to give
+him a couple of days' notice before making his visit, so as to give him
+time to make all preparation for his entertainment.</p>
+
+<p>This the king promised, and also said that this would be an informal
+visit to a friend, that he would go alone with some of his servants and
+huntsmen and ride there one day, hunt the next day and return to
+Salisbury on the third day. And a little later, when the day of his
+visit was fixed on, Athelwold returned in haste with an anxious mind to
+his castle.</p>
+
+<p>Now his hard task and the most painful moment of his life had come.
+Alone with Elfrida in her chamber he cast himself down before her, and
+with his bowed head resting on her knees, made a clean breast of the
+whole damning story of the deceit he had practised towards the king in
+order to win her for himself. In anguish and shedding tears he implored
+her forgiveness, begging her to think of that irresistible power of love
+she had inspired in him, which would have made it worse than death to
+see her the wife of another&mdash;even of Edgar himself&mdash;his friend, the
+brother of his soul. Then he went on to speak of Edgar, who was of a
+sweet and lovable nature, yet capable of a deadly fury against those who
+offended him; and this was an offence he would take more to heart than
+any other; he would be implacable if he once thought that he had been
+wilfully deceived, and she only could now save them from certain
+destruction. For now it seemed to him that Edgar had conceived a
+suspicion that the account he had of her was not wholly true, which was
+that she was a handsome woman but not surpassingly beautiful as had been
+reputed, not graceful, not charming in manner and conversation. She
+could save them by justifying his description of her&mdash;by using a woman's
+art to lessen instead of enhancing her natural beauty, by putting away
+her natural charm and power to fascinate all who approached her.</p>
+
+<p>Thus he pleaded, praying for mercy, even as a captive prays to his
+conqueror for life, and never once daring to lift his bowed head to look
+at her face; while she sat motionless and silent, not a word, not a
+sigh, escaping her; and she was like a woman carved in stone, with knees
+of stone on which his head rested.</p>
+
+<p>Then, at length, exhausted with his passionate pleading and frightened
+at her silence and deadly stillness, he raised his head and looked up at
+her face to behold it radiant and smiling. Then, looking down lovingly
+into his eyes, she raised her hands to her head, and loosening the great
+mass of coiled tresses let them fall over him, covering his head and
+shoulders and back as with a splendid mantle of shining red gold. And
+he, the awful fear now gone, continued silently gazing up at her,
+absorbed in her wonderful loveliness.</p>
+
+<p>Bending down she put her arms round his neck and spoke: Do you not know,
+O Athelwold, that I love you alone and could love no other, noble or
+king; that without you life would not be life to me? All you have told
+me endears you more to me, and all you wish me to do shall be done,
+though it may cause your king and friend to think meanly of you for
+having given your hand to one so little worthy of you.</p>
+
+<p>She having thus spoken, he was ready to pour forth his gratitude in
+burning words, but she would not have it. No more words, she said,
+putting her hand on his mouth. Your anxious day is over&mdash;your burden
+dropped. Rest here on the couch by my side, and let me think on all
+there is to plan and do against to-morrow evening.</p>
+
+<p>And so they were silent, and he, reclining on the cushions, watched her
+face and saw her smile and wondered what was passing in her mind to
+cause that smile. Doubtless it was something to do with the question of
+her disguising arts.</p>
+
+<p>What had caused her to smile was a happy memory of the days with
+Athelwold before their marriage, when one day he came in to her with a
+leather bag in his hand and said: Do you, who are so beautiful yourself,
+love all beautiful things? And do you love the beauty of gems? And when
+she replied that she loved gems above all beautiful things, he poured
+out the contents of his bag in her lap&mdash;brilliants, sapphires, rubies,
+emeralds, opals, pearls in gold setting, in bracelets, necklets,
+pendants, rings and brooches. And when she gloated over this splendid
+gift, taking up gem after gem, exclaiming delightedly at its size and
+colour and lustre, he told her that he once knew a man who maintained
+that it was a mistake for a beautiful woman to wear gems. Why? she
+asked, would he have then wholly unadorned? No, he replied, he liked to
+see them wearing gold, saying that gold makes the most perfect setting
+for a woman's beauty, just as it does for a precious stone, and its
+effect is to enhance the beauty it surrounds. But the woman's beauty has
+its meeting and central point in the eyes, and the light and soul in
+them illumines the whole face. And in the stone nature simulates the
+eye, and although without a soul its brilliant light and colour make it
+the equal of the eye, and therefore when worn as an ornament it competes
+with the eye, and in effect lessens the beauty it is supposed to
+enhance. He said that gems should be worn only by women who are not
+beautiful, who must rely on something extraneous to attract attention,
+since it would be better to a homely woman that men should look at her
+to admire a diamond or sapphire than not to look at her at all. She had
+laughed and asked him who the man was who had such strange ideas, and he
+had replied that he had forgotten his name.</p>
+
+<p>Now, recalling this incident after so long a time, it all at once
+flashed into her mind that Edgar was the man he had spoken of; she knew
+now because, always secretly watchful, she had noted that he never spoke
+of Edgar or heard Edgar spoken of without a slight subtle change in the
+expression of his face, also, if he spoke, in the tone of his voice. It
+was the change that comes into the face, and into the tone, when one
+remembers or speaks of the person most loved in all the world. And she
+remembered now that he had that changed expression and tone of voice,
+when he had spoken of the man whose name he pretended to have forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>And while she sat thinking of this it grew dark in the room, the light
+of the fire having died down. Then presently, in the profound stillness
+of the room, she heard the sound of his deep, regular breathing and knew
+that he slept, and that it was a sweet sleep after his anxious day.
+Going softly to the hearth she moved the yet still glowing logs, until
+they sent up a sudden flame and the light fell upon the sleeper's still
+face. Turning, she gazed steadily at it&mdash;the face of the man who had won
+her; but her own face in the firelight was white and still and wore a
+strange expression. Now she moved noiselessly to his side and bent down
+as if to whisper in his ear, but suddenly drew back again and moved
+towards the door, then turning gazed once more at his face and murmured:
+No, no, even a word faintly whispered would bring him a dream, and it is
+better his sleep should be dreamless. For now he has had his day and it
+is finished, and to-morrow is mine.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2>
+
+
+<p>On the following day Athelwold was occupied with preparations for the
+king's reception and for the next day's boar-hunt in the forest. At the
+same time he was still somewhat anxious as to his wife's more difficult
+part, and from time to time he came to see and consult with her. He then
+observed a singular change in her, both in her appearance and conduct.
+No longer the radiant, loving Elfrida, her beauty now had been dimmed
+and she was unsmiling and her manner towards him repellant. She had
+nothing to say to him except that she wished him to leave her alone.
+Accordingly he withdrew, feeling a little hurt, and at the same time
+admiring her extraordinary skill in disguising her natural loveliness
+and charm, but almost fearing that she was making too great a change in
+her appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Thus passed the day, and in the late afternoon Edgar duly arrived, and
+when he had rested a little, was conducted to the banqueting-room, where
+the meeting with Elfrida would take place.</p>
+
+<p>Then Elfrida came, and Athelwold hastened to the entrance to take her
+hand and conduct her to the king; then, seeing her, he stood still and
+stared in silent astonishment and dismay at the change he saw in her,
+for never before had he beheld her so beautiful, so queenly and
+magnificent. What did it mean&mdash;did she wish to destroy him? Seeing the
+state he was in she placed her hand in his, and murmured softly: I know
+best. And so, holding her hand, he conducted her to the king, who stood
+waiting to receive her. For all she had done that day to please and to
+deceive him had now been undone, and everything that had been possible
+had been done to enhance her loveliness. She had arrayed herself in a
+violet-coloured silk gown with a network of gold thread over the body
+and wide sleeves to the elbows, and rope of gold round her waist with
+its long ends falling to her knee. The great mass of her coiled hair was
+surmounted with a golden comb, and golden pendants dropped from her ears
+to her shoulders. Also she wore gold armlets coiled serpent-wise round
+her white arms from elbow to wrist. Not a gem&mdash;nothing but pale yellow
+gold.</p>
+
+<p>Edgar himself was amazed at her loveliness, for never had he seen
+anything comparable to it; and when he gazed into her eyes she did not
+lower hers, but returned gaze for gaze, and there was that in her eyes
+and their strange eloquence which kindled a sudden flame of passion in
+his heart, and for a moment it appeared in his countenance. Then,
+quickly recovering himself, he greeted her graciously but with his usual
+kingly dignity of manner, and for the rest of the time he conversed with
+her and Athelwold in such a pleasant and friendly way that his host
+began to recover somewhat from his apprehensions. But in his heart Edgar
+was saying: And this is the woman that Athelwold, the close friend of
+all my days, from boyhood until now, the one man in the world I loved
+and trusted, has robbed me of!</p>
+
+<p>And Athelwold at the same time was revolving in his mind the mystery of
+Elfrida's action. What did she mean when she whispered to him that she
+knew best? And why, when she wished to appear in that magnificent way
+before the king, had she worn nothing but gold ornaments&mdash;not one of the
+splendid gems of which she possessed such a store?</p>
+
+<p>She had remembered something which he had forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>Now when the two friends were left alone together drinking wine,
+Athelwold was still troubled in his mind, although his suspicion and
+fear were not so acute as at first, and the longer they sat
+talking&mdash;until the small hours&mdash;the more relieved did he feel from
+Edgar's manner towards him. Edgar in his cups opened his heart and was
+more loving and free in his speech than ever before. He loved Athelwold
+as he loved no one else in the world, and to see him great and happy was
+his first desire; and he congratulated him from his heart on having
+found a wife who was worthy of him and would eventually bring him,
+through her father, such great possessions as would make him the chief
+nobleman in the land. All happiness and glory to them both; and when a
+child was born to them he would be its godfather, and if happily by that
+time there was a queen, she should be its godmother.</p>
+
+<p>Then he recalled their happy boyhood's days in East Anglia, that joyful
+time when they first hunted and had many a mishap and fell from their
+horses when they pursued hare and deer and bustard in the wide open
+stretches of sandy country; and in the autumn and winter months when
+they were wild-fowling in the great level flooded lands where the geese
+and all wild-fowl came in clouds and myriads. And now he laughed and now
+his eyes grew moist at the recollection of the irrecoverable glad days.</p>
+
+<p>Little time was left for sleep; yet they were ready early next morning
+for the day's great boar-hunt in the forest, and only when the king was
+about to mount his horse did Elfrida make her appearance. She came out
+to him from the door, not richly dressed now, but in a simple white
+linen robe and not an ornament on her except that splendid crown of the
+red-gold hair on her head. And her face too was almost colourless now,
+and grave and still. She brought wine in a golden cup and gave it to the
+king, and he once more fixed his eyes on her and for some moments they
+continued silently gazing, each in that fixed gaze seeming to devour the
+secrets of the other's soul. Then she wished him a happy hunting, and he
+said in reply he hoped it would be the happiest hunting he had ever had.
+Then, after drinking the wine, he mounted his horse and rode away. And
+she remained standing very still, the cup in her hand, gazing after him
+as he rode side by side with Athelwold, until in the distance the trees
+hid him from her sight.</p>
+
+<p>Now when they had ridden a distance of three miles or more into the
+heart of the forest, they came to a broad drive-like stretch of green
+turf, and the king cried: This is just what I have been wishing for!
+Come, let us give our horses a good gallop. And when they loosened the
+reins, the horses, glad to have a race on such a ground, instantly
+sprang forward; but Edgar, keeping a tight rein, was presently left
+twenty or thirty yards behind; then, setting spurs to his horse, he
+dashed forward, and on coming abreast of his companion, drew his knife
+and struck him in the back, dealing the blow with such a concentrated
+fury that the knife was buried almost to the hilt. Then violently
+wrenching it out, he would have struck again had not the earl, with a
+scream of agony, tumbled from his seat. The horse, freed from its rider,
+rushed on in a sudden panic, and the king's horse side by side with it.
+Edgar, throwing himself back and exerting his whole strength, succeeded
+in bringing him to a stop at a distance of fifty or sixty yards, then
+turning, came riding back at a furious speed.</p>
+
+<p>Now when Athelwold fell, all those who were riding behind, the earl's
+and the king's men to the number of thirty or forty, dashed forward, and
+some of them, hurriedly dismounting, gathered about him as he lay
+groaning and writhing and pouring out his blood on the ground. But at
+the king's approach they drew quickly back to make way for him, and he
+came straight on and caused his horse to trample on the fallen man. Then
+pointing to him with the knife he still had in his hand, he cried: That
+is how I serve a false friend and traitor! Then, wiping the stained
+knife-blade on his horse's neck and sheathing it, he shouted: Back to
+Salisbury! and setting spurs to his horse, galloped off towards the
+Andover road.</p>
+
+<p>His men immediately mounted and followed, leaving the earl's men with
+their master. Lifting him up, they placed him on a horse, and with a
+mounted man on each side to hold him up, they moved back at a walking
+pace towards Wherwell.</p>
+
+<p>Messengers were sent ahead to inform Elfrida of what had happened, and
+then, an hour later, yet another messenger to tell that Athelwold, when
+half-way home, had breathed his last. Then at last the corpse was
+brought to the castle and she met it with tears and lamentations. But
+afterwards in her own chamber, when she had dismissed all her
+attendants, as she desired to weep alone, her grief changed to joy. O,
+glorious Edgar, she said, the time will come when you will know what I
+feel now, when at your feet, embracing your knees and kissing the
+blessed hand that with one blow has given me life and liberty. One blow
+and your revenge was satisfied and you had won me; I know it, I saw it
+all in that flame of love and fury in your eyes at our first meeting,
+which you permitted me to see, which, if he had seen, he would have
+known that he was doomed. O perfect master of dissimulation, all the
+more do I love and worship you for dealing with him as he dealt with you
+and with me; caressing him with flattering words until the moment came
+to strike and slay. And I love you all the more for making your horse
+trample on him as he lay bleeding his life out on the ground. And now
+you have opened the way with your knife you shall come back or call me
+to you when it pleases you, and for the rest of your life it will be a
+satisfaction to you to know that you have taken a modest woman as well
+as the fairest in the land for wife and queen, and your pride in me will
+be my happiness and glory. For men's love is little to me since
+Athelwold taught me to think meanly of all men, except you that slew
+him. And you shall be free to follow your own mind and be ever strenuous
+and vigilant and run after kingly pleasures, pursuing deer and wolf and
+beautiful women all over the land. And I shall listen to the tales of
+your adventures and conquests with a smile like that of a mother who
+sees her child playing seriously with its dolls and toys, talking to and
+caressing them. And in return you shall give me my desire, which is
+power and splendour; for these I crave, to be first and greatest, to
+raise up and cast down, and in all our life I shall be your help and
+stay in ruling this realm, so that our names may be linked together and
+shine in the annals of England for all time.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>When Edgar slew Athelwold his age was twenty-two, and before he was a
+year older he had married Elfrida, to the rage of that great man and
+primate and more than premier, who, under Edgar, virtually ruled
+England. And in his rage, and remembering how he had dealt with a
+previous boy king, whose beautiful young wife he had hounded to her
+dreadful end, he charged Elfrida with having instigated her husband's
+murder, and commanded the king to put that woman away. This roused the
+man and passionate lover, and the tiger in the man, in Edgar, and the
+wise and subtle-minded ecclesiastic quickly recognised that he had set
+himself against one of a will more powerful and dangerous than his own.
+He remembered that it was Edgar, who, when he had been deprived of his
+abbey and driven in disgrace from the land, had recalled and made him so
+great, and he knew that the result of a quarrel between them would be a
+mighty upheaval in the land and the sweeping away of all his great
+reforms. And so, cursing the woman in his heart and secretly vowing
+vengeance on her, he was compelled in the interests of the Church to
+acquiesce in this fresh crime of the king.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2>
+
+
+<p>Eight years had passed since the king's marriage with Elfrida, and the
+one child born to them was now seven, the darling of his parents,
+Ethelred the angelic child, who to the end of his long life would be
+praised for one thing only&mdash;his personal beauty. But Edward, his
+half-brother, now in his thirteenth year, was regarded by her with an
+almost equal affection, on account of his beauty and charm, his devotion
+to his step-mother, the only mother he had known, and, above all, for
+his love of his little half-brother. He was never happy unless he was
+with him, acting the part of guide and instructor as well as playfellow.</p>
+
+<p>Edgar had recently completed one of his great works, the building of
+Corfe Castle, and now whenever he was in Wessex preferred it as a
+residence, since he loved best that part of England with its wide moors
+and hunting forests, and its neighbourhood to the sea and to Portland
+and Poole water. He had been absent for many weeks on a journey to
+Northumbria, and the last tidings of his movements were that he was on
+his way to the south, travelling on the Welsh border, and intended
+visiting the Abbot of Glastonbury before returning to Dorset. This
+religious house was already very great in his day; he had conferred many
+benefits on it, and contemplated still others.</p>
+
+<p>It was summer time, a season of great heats, and Elfrida with the two
+little princes often went to the coast to spend a whole day in the open
+air by the sea. Her favourite spot was at the foot of a vast chalk down
+with a slight strip of woodland between its lowest slope and the beach.
+She was at this spot one day about noon where the trees were few and
+large, growing wide apart, and had settled herself on a pile of cushions
+placed at the roots of a big old oak tree, where from her seat she could
+look out over the blue expanse of water. But the hamlet and church close
+by on her left hand were hidden by the wood, though sounds issuing from
+it could be heard occasionally&mdash;shouts and bursts of laughter, and at
+times the music of a stringed instrument and a voice singing. These
+sounds came from her armed guard and other attendants who were speeding
+the idle hours of waiting in their own way, in eating and drinking and
+in games and dancing. Only two women remained to attend to her wants,
+and one armed man to keep watch and guard over the two boys at their
+play.</p>
+
+<p>They were not now far off, not above fifty yards, among the big trees;
+but for hours past they had been away out of her sight, racing on their
+ponies over the great down; then bathing in the sea, Edward teaching his
+little brother to swim; then he had given him lessons in tree-climbing,
+and now, tired of all these exertions, and for variety's sake, they were
+amusing themselves by standing on their heads. Little Ethelred had tried
+and failed repeatedly, then at last, with hands and head firmly planted
+on the sward, he had succeeded in throwing his legs up and keeping them
+in a vertical position for a few seconds, this feat being loudly
+applauded by his young instructor.</p>
+
+<p>Elfrida, who had witnessed this display from her seat, burst out
+laughing, then said to herself: O how I love these two beautiful boys
+almost with an equal love, albeit one is not mine! But Edward must be
+ever dear to me because of his sweetness and his love of me and, even
+more, his love and tender care of my darling. Yet am I not wholly free
+from an anxious thought of the distant future. Ah, no, let me not think
+of such a thing! This sweet child of a boy-father and girl-mother&mdash;the
+frail mother that died in her teens&mdash;he can never grow to be a proud,
+masterful, ambitious man&mdash;never aspire to wear his father's crown!
+Edgar's first-born, it is true, but not mine, and he can never be king.
+For Edgar and I are one; is it conceivable that he should oppose me in
+this&mdash;that we that are one in mind and soul shall at the last be divided
+and at enmity? Have we not said it an hundred times that we are one? One
+in all things except in passion. Yet this very coldness in me in which I
+differ from others is my chief strength and glory, and has made our two
+lives one life. And when he is tired and satiated with the common beauty
+and the common passions of other women he returns to me only to have his
+first love kindled afresh, and when in love and pity I give myself to
+him and am his bride afresh as when first he had my body in his arms, it
+is to him as if one of the immortals had stooped to a mortal, and he
+tells me I am the flower of womankind and of the world, that my white
+body is a perfect white flower, my hair a shining gold flower, my mouth
+a fragrant scarlet flower, and my eyes a sacred blue flower, surpassing
+all others in loveliness. And when I have satisfied him, and the tempest
+in his blood has abated, then for the rapture he has had I have mine,
+when, ashamed at his violence, as if it had been an insult to me, he
+covers his face with my hair and sheds tears of love and contrition on
+my breasts. O nothing can ever disunite us! Even from the first, before
+I ever saw him, when he was coming to me I knew that we were destined to
+be one. And he too knew it from the moment of seeing me, and knew that I
+knew it; and when he sat at meat with us and looked smilingly at the
+friend of his bosom and spoke merrily to him, and resolved at the same
+time to take his life, he knew that by so doing he would fulfil my
+desire, and as my knowledge of the betrayal was first, so the desire to
+shed that abhorred blood was in me first. Nevertheless, I cannot be free
+of all anxious thoughts, and fear too of my implacable enemy and
+traducer who from a distance watches all my movements, who reads Edgar's
+mind even as he would a book, and what he finds there writ by me he
+seeks to blot out; and thus does he ever thwart me. But though I cannot
+measure my strength against his, it will not always be so, seeing that
+he is old and I am young, with Time and Death on my side, who will like
+good and faithful servants bring him to the dust, so that my triumph
+must come. And when he is no more I shall have time to unbuild the
+structure he has raised with lies for stones and my name coupled with
+some evil deed cut in every stone. For I look ever to the future, even
+to the end to see this Edgar, with the light of life shining so brightly
+in him now, a venerable king with silver hair, his passions cool, his
+strength failing, leaning more heavily on me; until at last, persuaded
+by me, he will step down from the throne and resign his crown to our
+son&mdash;our Ethelred. And in him and his son after him, and in his son's
+sons we shall live still in their blood, and with them rule this kingdom
+of Edgar the Peaceful&mdash;a realm of everlasting peace.</p>
+
+<p>Thus she mused, until overcome by her swift, crowding thoughts and
+passions, love and hate, with memories dreadful or beautiful, of her
+past and strivings of her mind to pierce the future, she burst into a
+violent storm of tears so that her frame was shaken, and covering her
+eyes with her hands she strove to get the better of her agitation lest
+her weakness should be witnessed by her attendants. But when this
+tempest had left her and she lifted her eyes again, it seemed to her
+that the burning tears which had relieved her heart had also washed away
+some trouble that had been like a dimness on all visible nature, and
+earth and sea and sky were glorified as if the sunlight flooding the
+world fell direct from the heavenly throne, and she sat drinking in pure
+delight from the sight of it and the soft, warm air she breathed.</p>
+
+<p>Then, to complete her happiness, the silence that reigned around her was
+broken by a sweet, musical sound of a little bird that sang from the
+tree-top high above her head. This was the redstart, and the tree under
+which she sat was its singing-tree, to which it resorted many times a
+day to spend half an hour or so repeating its brief song at intervals of
+a few seconds&mdash;a small song that was like the song of the redbreast,
+subdued, refined and spiritualised, as of a spirit that lived within the
+tree.</p>
+
+<p>Listening to it in that happy, tender mood which had followed her tears,
+she gazed up and tried to catch sight of it, but could see nothing but
+the deep-cut, green, translucent, clustering oak leaves showing the blue
+of heaven and shining like emeralds in the sunlight. O sweet, blessed
+little bird, she said, are you indeed a bird? I think you are a
+messenger sent to assure me that all my hopes and dreams of the distant
+days to come will be fulfilled. Sing again and again and again; I could
+listen for hours to that selfsame song.</p>
+
+<p>But she heard it no more; the bird had flown away. Then, still
+listening, she caught a different sound&mdash;the loud hoof-beats of horses
+being ridden at furious speed towards the hamlet. Listening intently to
+that sound she heard, on its arrival at the hamlet, a sudden, great cry
+as if all the men gathered there had united their voices in one cry; and
+she stood up, and her women came to her, and all together stood silently
+gazing in that direction. Then the two boys who had been lying on the
+turf not far off came running to them and caught her by the hands, one
+on each side, and Edward, looking up at her white, still face, cried,
+Mother, what is it you fear? But she answered no word. Then again the
+sound of hoofs was heard and they knew the riders were now coming at a
+swift gallop to them. And in a few moments they appeared among the
+trees, and reining up their horses at a distance of some yards, one
+sprang to the ground, and advancing to the queen, made his obeisance,
+then told her he had been sent to inform her of Edgar's death. He had
+been seized by a sudden violent fever in Gloucestershire, on his way to
+Glastonbury, and had died after two days' illness. He had been
+unconscious all the time, but more than once he had cried out, On to
+Glastonbury! and now in obedience to that command his body was being
+conveyed thither for interment at the abbey.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2>
+
+
+<p>She had no tears to shed, no word to say, nor was there any sense of
+grief at her loss. She had loved him&mdash;once upon a time; she had always
+admired him for his better qualities; even his excessive pride and
+ostentation had been pleasing to her; finally she had been more than
+tolerant of his vices or weaknesses, regarding them as matters beneath
+her attention. Nevertheless, in their eight years of married life they
+had become increasingly repugnant to her stronger and colder nature. He
+had degenerated, bodily and mentally, and was not now like that shining
+one who had come to her at Wherwell Castle, who had not hesitated to
+strike the blow that had set her free. The tidings of his death had all
+at once sprung the truth on her mind that the old love was dead, that it
+had indeed been long dead, and that she had actually come to despise
+him.</p>
+
+<p>But what should she do&mdash;what be&mdash;without him! She had been his queen,
+loved to adoration, and he had been her shield; now she was alone, face
+to face with her bitter, powerful enemy. Now it seemed to her that she
+had been living in a beautiful peaceful land, a paradise of fruit and
+flowers and all delightful things; that in a moment, as by a miracle, it
+had turned to a waste of black ashes still hot and smoking from the
+desolating flames that had passed over it. But she was not one to give
+herself over to despondency so long as there was anything to be done.
+Very quickly she roused herself to action, and despatched messengers to
+all those powerful friends who shared her hatred of the great
+archbishop, and would be glad of the opportunity now offered of wresting
+the rule from his hands. Until now he had triumphed because he had had
+the king to support him even in his most arbitrary and tyrannical
+measures; now was the time to show a bold front, to proclaim her son as
+the right successor, and with herself, assisted by chosen councillors to
+direct her boy, the power would be in her hands, and once more, as in
+King Edwin's day, the great Dunstan, disgraced and denounced, would be
+compelled to fly from the country lest a more dreadful punishment should
+befall him. Finally, leaving the two little princes at Corfe Castle, she
+travelled to Mercia to be with and animate her powerful friends and
+fellow-plotters with her presence.</p>
+
+<p>All their plottings and movements were known to Dunstan, and he was too
+quick for them. Whilst they, divided among themselves, were debating and
+arranging their plans, he had called together all the leading bishops
+and councillors of the late king, and they had agreed that Edward must
+be proclaimed as the first-born; and although but a boy of thirteen, the
+danger to the country would not be so great as it would to give the
+succession to a child of seven years. Accordingly Edward was proclaimed
+king and removed from Corfe Castle while the queen was still absent in
+Mercia.</p>
+
+<p>For a while it looked as if this bold and prompt act on the part of
+Dunstan would have led to civil war; but a great majority of the nobles
+gave their adhesion to Edward, and Elfrida's friends soon concluded that
+they were not strong enough to set her boy up and try to overthrow
+Edward, or to divide England again between two boy kings as in Edwin and
+Edgar's early years.</p>
+
+<p>She accordingly returned discomfited to Corfe and to her child, now
+always crying for his beloved brother who had been taken from him; and
+there was not in all England a more miserable woman than Elfrida the
+queen. For after this defeat she could hope no more; her power was gone
+past recovery&mdash;all that had made her life beautiful and glorious was
+gone. Now Corfe was like that other castle at Wherwell, where Earl
+Athelwold had kept her like a caged bird for his pleasure when he
+visited her; only worse, since she was eight years younger then, her
+beauty fresher, her heart burning with secret hopes and ambitions, and
+the great world where there were towns and a king, and many noble men
+and women gathered round him yet to be known. And all these things had
+come to her and were now lost&mdash;now nothing was left but bitterest
+regrets and hatred of all those who had failed her at the last. Hatred
+first of all and above all of her great triumphant enemy, and hatred of
+the boy king she had loved with a mother's love until now, and cherished
+for many years. Hatred too of herself when she recalled the part she had
+recently played in Mercia, where she had not disdained to practise all
+her fascinating arts on many persons she despised in order to bind them
+to her cause, and had thereby given cause to her monkish enemy to charge
+her with immodesty. It was with something like hatred too that she
+regarded her own child when he would come crying to her, begging her to
+take him to his beloved brother; carried away with sudden rage, she
+would strike and thrust him violently from her, then order her women to
+take him away and keep him out of her sight.</p>
+
+<p>Three years had gone by, during which she had continued living alone at
+Corfe, still under a cloud and nursing her bitter revengeful feeling in
+her heart, until that fatal afternoon on the eighteenth day of March,
+978.</p>
+
+<p>The young king, now in his seventeenth year, had come to these favourite
+hunting-grounds of his late father, and was out hunting on that day. He
+had lost sight of his companions in a wood or thicket of thorn and
+furze, and galloping in search of them he came out from the wood on the
+further side; and there before him, not a mile away, was Corfe Castle,
+his old beloved home, and the home still of the two beings he loved best
+in the world&mdash;his step-mother and his little half-brother. And although
+he had been sternly warned that they were his secret enemies, that it
+would be dangerous to hold any intercourse with them, the sight of the
+castle and his craving to look again on their dear faces overcame his
+scruples. There would be no harm, no danger to him and no great
+disobedience on his part to ride to the gates and see and greet them
+without dismounting.</p>
+
+<p>When Elfrida was told that Edward himself was at the gates calling to
+her and Ethelred to come out to him she became violently excited, and
+cried out that God himself was on her side, and had delivered the boy
+into her hands. She ordered her servants to go out and persuade him to
+come in to her, to take away his horse as soon as he had dismounted, and
+not to allow him to leave the castle. Then, when they returned to say
+the king refused to dismount and again begged them to go to him, she
+went to the gates, but without the boy, and greeted him joyfully, while
+he, glad at the meeting, bent down and embraced her and kissed her face.
+But when she refused to send for Ethelred, and urged him persistently to
+dismount and come in to see his little brother who was crying for him,
+he began to notice the extreme excitement which burned in her eyes and
+made her voice tremble, and beginning to fear some design against him,
+he refused again more firmly to obey her wish; then she, to gain time,
+sent for wine for him to drink before parting from her. And during all
+this time while his departure was being delayed, her people, men and
+women, had been coming out until, sitting on his horse, he was in the
+midst of a crowd, and these too all looked on him with excited faces,
+which increased his apprehension, so that when he had drunk the wine he
+all at once set spurs to his horse to break away from among them. Then
+she, looking at her men, cried out: Is this the way you serve me? And no
+sooner had the words fallen from her lips than one man bounded forward,
+like a hound on its quarry, and coming abreast of the horse, dealt the
+king a blow with his knife in the side. The next moment the horse and
+rider were free of the crowd and rushing away over the moor. A cry of
+horror had burst from the women gathered there when the blow was struck;
+now all were silent, watching with white, scared faces as he rode
+swiftly away. Then presently they saw him swerve on his horse, then
+fall, with his right foot still remaining caught in the stirrup, and
+that the panic-stricken horse was dragging him at furious speed over the
+rough moor.</p>
+
+<p>Only then the queen spoke, and in an agitated voice told them to mount
+and follow; and charged them that if they overtook the horse and found
+that the king had been killed, to bury the body where it would not be
+found, so that the manner of his death should not be known.</p>
+
+<p>When the men returned they reported that they had found the dead body of
+the king a mile away, where the horse had got free of it, and they had
+buried it in a thicket where it would never be discovered.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Edward in sudden terror set spurs to his horse: when at the same
+moment a knife flashed out and the fatal blow was delivered, Elfrida
+too, like the other women witnesses in the crowd, had uttered a cry of
+horror. But once the deed was accomplished and the assurance received
+that the body had been hidden where it would never be found, the feeling
+experienced at the spectacle was changed to one of exultation. For now
+at last, after three miserable years of brooding on her defeat, she had
+unexpectedly triumphed, and it was as if she already had her foot set on
+her enemies' necks. For now her boy would be king&mdash;happily there was no
+other candidate in the field; now her great friends from all over the
+land would fly to her aid, and with them for her councillors she would
+practically be the ruler during the king's long minority.</p>
+
+<p>Thus she exulted; then, when that first tempest of passionate excitement
+had abated, came a revulsion of feeling when the vivid recollections of
+that pitiful scene returned and would not be thrust away; when she saw
+again the change from affection and delight at beholding her to
+suspicion and fear, then terror, come into the face of the boy she had
+loved; when she witnessed the dreadful blow and watched him when he
+swerved and fell from the saddle and the frightened horse galloped
+wildly away dragging him over the rough moor. For now she knew that in
+her heart she had never hated him: the animosity had been only on the
+surface and was an overflow of her consuming hatred of the primate. She
+had always loved the boy, and now that he no longer stood in her way to
+power she loved him again. And she had slain him! O no, she was thankful
+to think she had not! His death had come about by chance. Her commands
+to her people had been that he was not to be allowed to leave the
+castle; she had resolved to detain him, to hide and hold him a captive,
+to persuade or in some way compel him to abdicate in his brother's
+favour. She could not now say just how she had intended to deal with
+him, but it was never her intention to murder him. Her commands had been
+misunderstood, and she could not be blamed for his death, however much
+she was to benefit by it. God would not hold her accountable.</p>
+
+<p>Could she then believe that she was guiltless in God's sight? Alas! on
+second thoughts she dared not affirm it. She was guiltless only in the
+way that she had been guiltless of Athelwold's murder; had she not
+rejoiced at the part she had had in that act? Athelwold had deserved his
+fate, and she had never repented that deed, nor had Edgar. She had not
+dealt the fatal blow then nor now, but she had wished for Edward's death
+even as she had wished for Athelwold's, and it was for her the blow was
+struck. It was a difficult and dreadful question. She was not equal to
+it. Let it be put off, the pressing question now was, what would man's
+judgment be&mdash;how would she now stand before the world?</p>
+
+<p>And now the hope came that the secret of the king's disappearance would
+never be known; that after a time it would be assumed that he was dead,
+and that his death would never be traced to her door.</p>
+
+<p>A vain hope, as she quickly found! There had been too many witnesses of
+the deed both of the castle people and those who lived outside the
+gates. The news spread fast and far as if carried by winged messengers,
+so that it was soon known throughout the kingdom, and everywhere it was
+told and believed that the queen herself had dealt the fatal blow.</p>
+
+<p>Not Elfrida nor any one living at that time could have foretold the
+effect on the people generally of this deed, described as the foulest
+which had been done in Saxon times. There had in fact been a thousand
+blacker deeds in the England of that dreadful period, but never one that
+touched the heart and imagination of the whole people in the same way.
+Furthermore, it came after a long pause, a serene interval of many years
+in the everlasting turmoil&mdash;the years of the reign of Edgar the
+Peaceful, whose early death had up till then been its one great sorrow.
+A time too of recovery from a state of insensibility to evil deeds; of
+increasing civilisation and the softening of hearts. For Edward was the
+child of Edgar and his child-wife, who was beautiful and beloved and
+died young; and he had inherited the beauty, charm, and all engaging
+qualities of his parents. It is true that these qualities were known at
+first-hand only by those who were about him; but from these the feeling
+inspired had been communicated to those outside in ever-widening circles
+until it was spread over all the land, so that there was no habitation,
+from the castle to the hovel, in which the name of Edward was not as
+music on man's lips. And we of the present generation can perhaps
+understand this better than those of any other in the past centuries,
+for having a prince and heir to the English throne of this same name so
+great in our annals, one as universally loved as was Edward the Second,
+afterwards called the Martyr, in his day.</p>
+
+<p>One result of this general outburst of feeling was that all those who
+had been, openly or secretly, in alliance with Elfrida now hastened to
+dissociate themselves from her. She was told that by her own rash act in
+killing the king before the world she had ruined her own cause for ever.</p>
+
+<p>And Dunstan was not defeated after all. He made haste to proclaim the
+son, the boy of ten years, king of England, and at the same time to
+denounce the mother as a murderess. Nor did she dare to resist him when
+he removed the little prince from Corfe Castle and placed him with some
+of his own creatures, with monks for schoolmasters and guardians, whose
+first lesson to him would be detestation of his mother. This lesson too
+had to be impressed on the public mind; and at once, in obedience to
+this command, every preaching monk in every chapel in the land raged
+against the queen, the enemy of the archbishop and of religion, the
+tigress in human shape, and author of the greatest crime known in the
+land since Cerdic's landing. No fortitude could stand against such a
+storm of execration. It overwhelmed her. It was, she believed, a
+preparation for the dreadful doom about to fall on her. This was her
+great enemy's day, and he would no longer be baulked of his revenge. She
+remembered that Edwin had died by the assassin's hand, and the awful
+fate of his queen Elgitha, whose too beautiful face was branded with hot
+irons, and who was hamstrung and left to perish in unimaginable agony.
+She was like the hunted roe deer hiding in a close thicket and
+listening, trembling, to the hunters shouting and blowing on their horns
+and to the baying of their dogs, seeking for her in the wood.</p>
+
+<p>Could she defend herself against them in her castle? She consulted her
+guard as to this, with the result that most of the men secretly left
+her. There was nothing for her to do but wait in dreadful suspense, and
+thereafter she would spend many hours every day in a tower commanding a
+wide view of the surrounding level country to watch the road with
+anxious eyes. But the feared hunters came not; the sound of the cry for
+vengeance grew fainter and fainter until it died into silence. It was at
+length borne in on her that she was not to be punished&mdash;at all events,
+not here and by man. It came as a surprise to every one, herself
+included. But it had been remembered that she was Edgar's widow and the
+king's mother, and that her power and influence were dead. Never again
+would she lift her head in England. Furthermore, Dunstan was growing
+old; and albeit his zeal for religion, pure and undefiled as he
+understood it, was not abated, the cruel, ruthless instincts and temper,
+which had accompanied and made it effective in the great day of conflict
+when he was engaged in sweeping from England the sin and scandal of a
+married clergy, had by now burnt themselves out. Vengeance is mine,
+saith the Lord, I will repay, and he was satisfied to have no more to do
+with her. Let the abhorred woman answer to God for her crimes.</p>
+
+<p>But now that all fear of punishment by man was over, this dreadful
+thought that she was answerable to God weighed more and more heavily on
+her. Nor could she escape by day or night from the persistent image of
+the murdered boy. It haunted her like a ghost in every room, and when
+she climbed to a tower to look out it was to see his horse rushing madly
+away dragging his bleeding body over the moor. Or when she went out to
+the gate it was still to find him there, sitting on his horse, his face
+lighting up with love and joy at beholding her again; then the
+change&mdash;the surprise, the fear, the wine-cup, the attempt to break away,
+her cry&mdash;the unconsidered words she had uttered&mdash;and the fatal blow! The
+cry that rose from all England calling on God to destroy her! would that
+be her torment&mdash;would it sound in her ears through all eternity?</p>
+
+<p>Corfe became unendurable to her, and eventually she moved to Bere, in
+Dorset, where the lands were her property and she possessed a house of
+her own, and there for upwards of a year she resided in the strictest
+seclusion.</p>
+
+<p>It then came out and was quickly noised abroad that the king's body had
+been discovered long ago&mdash;miraculously it was said&mdash;in that brake near
+Corfe where it had been hidden; that it had been removed to and secretly
+buried at Wareham, and it was also said that miracles were occurring at
+that spot. This caused a fresh outburst of excitement in the country;
+the cry of miracles roused the religious houses all over Wessex, and
+there was a clamour for possession of the remains. This was a question
+for the heads of the Church to decide, and it was eventually decreed
+that the monastery of Shaftesbury, founded by King Alfred, Edward's
+great-great-grandfather, should have the body. Shaftesbury then, in
+order to advertise so important an acquisition to the world, resolved to
+make the removal of the remains the occasion of a great ceremony, a
+magnificent procession bearing the sacred remains from Wareham to the
+distant little city on the hill, attended by representatives from
+religious houses all over the country and by the pious generally.</p>
+
+<p>Elfrida, sitting alone in her house, brooding on her desolation, heard
+of all these happenings and doings with increasing excitement; then all
+at once resolved to take part herself in the procession. This was
+seemingly a strange, almost incredible departure for one of her
+indomitable character and so embittered against the primate, even as he
+was against her. But her fight with him was now ended; she was defeated,
+broken, deprived of everything that she valued in life; it was time to
+think about the life to come. Furthermore, it now came to her that this
+was not her own thought, but that it had been whispered to her soul by
+some compassionate being of a higher order, and it was suggested to her
+that here was an opportunity for a first step towards a reconciliation
+with God and man. She dared not disregard it. Once more she would appear
+before the world, not as the beautiful, magnificent Elfrida, the proud
+and powerful woman of other days, but as a humble penitent doing her
+bitter penance in public, one of a thousand or ten thousand humble
+pilgrims, clad in mean garments, riding only when overcome with fatigue,
+and at the last stage of that long twenty-five-mile journey casting off
+her shoes to climb the steep stony road on naked, bleeding feet.</p>
+
+<p>This resolution, in which she was strongly supported by the local
+priesthood, had a mollifying effect on the people, and something like
+compassion began to mingle with their feelings of hatred towards her.
+But when it was reported to Dunstan, he fell into a rage, and imagined
+or pretended to believe that some sinister design was hidden under it.
+She was the same woman, he said, who had instigated the murder of her
+first husband by means of a trick of this kind. She must not be allowed
+to show her face again. He then despatched a stern and threatening
+message forbidding her to take any part in or show herself at the
+procession.</p>
+
+<p>This came at the last moment when all her preparations had been made;
+but she dared not disobey. The effect was to increase her misery. It was
+as if the gates of mercy and deliverance, which had been opened,
+miraculously as she believed, had now been once more closed against her;
+and it was also as if her enemy had said: I have spared you the branding
+with hot irons and slashing of sinews with sharp knives, not out of
+compassion, but in order to subject you to a more terrible punishment.</p>
+
+<p>Despair possessed her, which turned to sullen rage when she found that
+the feeling of the people around her had again become hostile, owing to
+the report that her non-appearance at the procession was due to the
+discovery by Dunstan in good time of a secret plot against the State on
+her part. Her house at Bere became unendurable to her; she resolved to
+quit it, and made choice of Salisbury as her next place of residence. It
+was not far to go, and she had a good house there which had not been
+used since Edgar's death, but was always kept ready for her occupation.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was about the middle of the afternoon when Elfrida on horseback and
+attended by her mounted guard of twenty or more men, followed by a
+convoy of carts with her servants and luggage, arrived at Salisbury, and
+was surprised and disturbed at the sight of a vast concourse of people
+standing without the gates.</p>
+
+<p>It had got abroad that she was coming to Salisbury on that day, and it
+was also now known throughout Wessex that she had not been allowed to
+attend the procession to Shaftesbury. This had excited the people, and a
+large part of the inhabitants of the town and the adjacent hamlets had
+congregated to witness her arrival.</p>
+
+<p>On her approach the crowd opened out on either side to make way for her
+and her men, and glancing to this side and that she saw that every pair
+of eyes in all that vast silent crowd were fixed intently on her face.</p>
+
+<p>Then came a fresh surprise when she found a mounted guard standing with
+drawn swords before the gates. The captain of the guard, lifting his
+hand, cried out to her to halt, then in a loud voice he informed her he
+had been ordered to turn her back from the gates. Was it then to witness
+this fresh insult that the people had now been brought together? Anger
+and apprehension struggled for mastery in her breast and choked her
+utterance when she attempted to speak. She could only turn to her men,
+and in instant response to her look they drew their swords and pressed
+forward as if about to force their way in. This movement on their part
+was greeted with a loud burst of derisive laughter from the town guard.
+Then from out of the middle of the crowd of lookers-on came a cry of
+Murderess! quickly followed by another shout of Go back, murderess, you
+are not wanted here! This was a signal for all the unruly spirits in the
+throng&mdash;all those whose delight is to trample upon the fallen&mdash;and from
+all sides there arose a storm of jeers and execrations, and it was as if
+she was in the midst of a frantic bellowing herd eager to gore and
+trample her to death. And these were the same people that a few short
+years ago would rush out from their houses to gaze with pride and
+delight at her, their beautiful queen, and applaud her to the echo
+whenever she appeared at their gates! Now, better than ever before, she
+realised the change of feeling towards her from affectionate loyalty to
+abhorrence, and drained to the last bitterest dregs the cup of shame and
+humiliation.</p>
+
+<p>With trembling hand she turned her horse round, and bending her ashen
+white face low rode slowly out of the crowd, her men close to her on
+either side, threatening with their swords those that pressed nearest
+and followed in their retreat by shouts and jeers. But when well out of
+sight and sound of the people she dismounted and sat down on the turf to
+rest and consider what was to be done. By and by a mounted man was seen
+coming from Salisbury at a fast gallop. He came with a letter and
+message to the queen from an aged nobleman, one she had known in former
+years at court. He informed her that he owned a large house at or near
+Amesbury which he could not now use on account of his age and
+infirmities, which compelled him to remain in Salisbury. This house she
+might occupy for as long as she wished to remain in the neighbourhood.
+He had received permission from the governor of the town to offer it to
+her, and the only condition was that she must not return to Salisbury.</p>
+
+<p>There was thus one friend left to the reviled and outcast queen&mdash;this
+aged dying man!</p>
+
+<p>Once more she set forth with the messenger as guide, and about set of
+sun arrived at the house, which was to be her home for the next two to
+three years, in this darkest period of her life. Yet she could not have
+found a habitation and surroundings more perfectly suited to her wants
+and the mood she was in. The house, which was large enough to
+accommodate all her people, was on the west side of the Avon, a quarter
+of a mile below Amesbury and two to three hundred yards distant from the
+river bank, and was surrounded by enclosed land with gardens and
+orchards, the river itself forming the boundary on one side. Here was
+the perfect seclusion she desired: here she could spend her hours and
+days as she ever loved to do in the open air without sight of any human
+countenance excepting those of her own people, since now strange faces
+had become hateful to her. Then, again, she loved riding, and just
+outside of her gates was the great green expanse of the Downs, where she
+could spend hours on horseback without meeting or seeing a human figure
+except occasionally a solitary shepherd guarding his flock. So great was
+the attraction the Downs had for her she herself marvelled at it. It was
+not merely the sense of power and freedom the rider feels on a horse
+with the exhilarating effect of swift motion and a wide horizon. Here
+she had got out of the old and into a new world better suited to her
+changed spirit. For in that world of men and women in which she had
+lived until now all nature had become interfused with her own and other
+people's lives&mdash;passions and hopes and fears and dreams and ambitions.
+Now it was as if an obscuring purple mist had been blown away, leaving
+the prospect sharp and clear to her sight as it had never appeared
+before. A wide prospect, whose grateful silence was only broken by the
+cry or song of some wild bird. Great thickets of dwarf thorn tree and
+brambles and gorse, aflame with yellow flowers or dark to blackness by
+contrast with the pale verdure of the earth. And open reaches of elastic
+turf, its green suffused or sprinkled with red or blue or yellow,
+according to the kind of flowers proper to the season and place. The
+sight, too, of wild creatures: fallow deer, looking yellow in the
+distance when seen amid the black gorse; a flock of bustards taking to
+flight on her approach would rush away, their spread wings flashing
+silver-white in the brilliant sunshine. She was like them on her horse,
+borne swiftly as on wings above the earth, but always near it. Then,
+casting her eyes up, she would watch the soarers, the buzzards, or
+harriers and others, circling up from earth on broad motionless wings,
+bird above bird, ever rising and diminishing to fade away at last into
+the universal blue. Then, as if aspiring too, she would seek the highest
+point on some high down, and sitting on her horse survey the prospect
+before her&mdash;the sea of rounded hills, hills beyond hills, stretching
+away to the dim horizon, and over it all the vast blue dome of heaven.
+Sky and earth, with thorny brakes and grass and flowers and wild
+creatures, with birds that flew low and others soaring up into
+heaven&mdash;what was the secret meaning it had for her? She was like one
+groping for a key in a dark place. Not a human figure visible, not a
+sign of human occupancy on that expanse! Was this then the secret of her
+elation? The all-powerful, dreadful God she was at enmity with, whom she
+feared and fled from, was not here. He, or his spirit, was where man
+inhabited, in cities and other centres of population, where there were
+churches and monasteries.</p>
+
+<p>To think this was a veritable relief to her. God was where men
+worshipped him, and not here! She hugged the new belief and it made her
+bold and defiant. Doubtless, if he is here, she would say, and can read
+my thoughts, my horse in his very next gallop will put his foot in a
+mole-run, and bring me down and break my neck. Or when yon black cloud
+comes over me, if it is a thunder-cloud, the lightning out of it will
+strike me dead. If he will but listen to his servant Dunstan this will
+surely happen. Was it God or the head shepherd of his sheep, here in
+England, who, when I tried to enter the fold, beat me off with his staff
+and set his dogs on me so that I was driven away, torn and bleeding, to
+hide myself in a solitary place? Would it then be better for me to go
+with my cries for mercy to his seat? O no, I could not come to him
+there; his doorkeepers would bar the way, and perhaps bring together a
+crowd of their people to howl at me&mdash;Go away, Murderess, you are not
+wanted here!</p>
+
+<p>Now in spite of those moments, or even hours, of elation, during which
+her mind would recover its old independence until the sense of freedom
+was like an intoxication; when she cried out against God that he was
+cruel and unjust in his dealings with his creatures, that he had raised
+up and given power to the man who held the rod over her, one who in
+God's holy name had committed crimes infinitely greater than hers, and
+she refused to submit to him&mdash;in spite of it all she could never shake
+off the terrible thought that in the end, at God's judgment seat, she
+would have to answer for her own dark deeds. She could not be free of
+her religion. She was like one who tears a written paper to pieces and
+scatters the pieces in anger to see them blown away like snow-flakes on
+the wind; who by and by discovers one small fragment clinging to his
+garments, and looking at the half a dozen words and half words appearing
+on it, adds others from memory or of his own invention. So she with what
+was left when she thrust her religion away built for herself a different
+one which was yet like the old; and even here in this solitude she was
+able to find a house and sacred place for meditation and prayer, in
+which she prayed indirectly to the God she was at enmity with. For now
+invariably on returning from her ride to her house at Amesbury she would
+pay a visit to the Great Stones, the ancient temple of Stonehenge.
+Dismounting, she would order her attendants to take her horse away and
+wait for her at a distance, so as not to be disturbed by the sound of
+their talking. Going in she would seat herself on the central or altar
+stone and give a little time to meditation&mdash;to the tuning of her mind.
+That circle of rough-hewn stones, rough with grey lichen, were the
+pillars of her cathedral, with the infinite blue sky for roof, and for
+incense the smell of flowers and aromatic herbs, and for music the
+far-off faintly heard sounds that came to her from the surrounding
+wilderness&mdash;the tremulous bleating of sheep and the sudden wild cry of
+hawk or stone curlew. Closing her eyes she would summon the familiar
+image and vision of the murdered boy, always coming so quickly, so
+vividly, that she had brought herself to believe that it was not a mere
+creation of her own mind and of remorse, a memory, but that he was
+actually there with her. Moving her hand over the rough stone she would
+by and by let it rest, pressing it on the stone, and would say, Now I
+have your hand in mine, and am looking with my soul's eyes into yours,
+listen again to the words I have spoken so many times. You would not be
+here if you did not remember me and pity and even love me still. Know
+then that I am now alone in the world, that I am hated by the world
+because of your bitter death. And there is not now one living being in
+the world that I love, for I have ceased to love even my own boy, your
+old beloved playmate, seeing that he has long been taken from me and
+taught with all others to despise and hate me. And of all those who
+inhabit the regions above, in all that innumerable multitude of angels
+and saints, and of all who have died on earth and been forgiven, you
+alone have any feeling of compassion for me and can intercede for me.
+Plead for me&mdash;plead for me, O my son; for who is there in heaven or
+earth that can plead so powerfully for me that am stained with your
+blood!</p>
+
+<p>Then, having finished her prayer, and wiped away all trace of tears and
+painful emotions, she would summon her attendants and ride home, in
+appearance and bearing still the Elfrida of her great days&mdash;the calm,
+proud-faced, beautiful woman who was once Edgar's queen.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2>
+
+
+<p>The time had arrived when Elfrida was deprived of this her one relief
+and consolation&mdash;her rides on the Downs and the exercise of her religion
+at the temple of the Great Stones&mdash;when in the second winter of her
+residence at Amesbury there fell a greater darkness than that of winter
+on England, when the pirate kings of the north began once more to
+frequent our shores, and the daily dreadful tale of battles and
+massacres and burning of villages and monasteries was heard throughout
+the kingdom. These invasions were at first confined to the eastern
+counties, but the agitation, with movements of men and outbreaks of
+lawlessness, were everywhere in the country, and the queen was warned
+that it was no longer safe for her to go out on Salisbury Plain.</p>
+
+<p>The close seclusion in which she had now to live, confined to house and
+enclosed land, affected her spirits, and this was her darkest period,
+and it was also the turning-point in her life. For I now come to the
+strange story of her maid Editha, who, despite her humble position in
+the house, and albeit she was but a young girl in years, one, moreover,
+of a meek, timid disposition, was yet destined to play an exceedingly
+important part in the queen's history.</p>
+
+<p>It happened that by chance or design the queen's maid, who was her
+closest attendant, who dressed and undressed her, was suddenly called
+away on some urgent matter, and this girl Editha, a stranger to all, was
+put in her place. The queen, who was in a moody and irritable state,
+presently discovered that the sight and presence of this girl produced a
+soothing effect on her darkened mind. She began to notice her when the
+maid combed her hair, when sitting with half-closed eyes in profound
+dejection she first looked attentively at that face behind her head in
+the mirror and marvelled at its fairness, the perfection of its lines
+and its delicate colouring, the pale gold hair and strangely serious
+grey eyes that were never lifted to meet her own.</p>
+
+<p>What was it in this face, she asked herself, that held her and gave some
+rest to her tormented spirit? It reminded her of that crystal stream of
+sweet and bitter memories, at Wherwell, on which she used to gaze and in
+which she used to dip her hands, then to press the wetted hands to her
+lips. It also reminded her of an early morning sky, seen beyond and
+above the green dew-wet earth, so infinitely far away, so peaceful with
+a peace that was not of this earth.</p>
+
+<p>It was not then merely its beauty that made this face so much to her,
+but something greater behind it, some inner grace, the peace of God in
+her soul.</p>
+
+<p>One day there came for the queen as a gift from some distant town a
+volume of parables and fables for her entertainment. It was beautiful to
+the sight, being richly bound in silk and gold embroidery; but on
+opening it she soon found that there was little pleasure to be got from
+it on account of the difficulty she found in reading the crabbed
+handwriting. After spending some minutes in trying to decipher a
+paragraph or two she threw the book in disgust on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>The maid picked it up, and after a glance at the first page said it was
+easy to her, and she asked if the queen would allow her to read it to
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Elfrida, surprised, asked how it came about that her maid was able to
+read a difficult script with ease, or was able to read at all; and this
+was the first question she had condescended to put to the girl. Editha
+replied that she had been taught as a child by a great-uncle, a learned
+man; that she had been made to read volumes in a great variety of
+scripts to him, until reading had come easy to her, both Saxon and
+Latin.</p>
+
+<p>Then, having received permission, she read the first fable aloud, and
+Elfrida listening, albeit without interest in the tale itself, found
+that the voice increased the girl's attraction for her. From that time
+the queen made her read to her every day. She would make her sit a
+little distance from her, and reclining on her couch, her head resting
+on her hand, she would let her eyes dwell on that sweet saint-like face
+until the reading was finished.</p>
+
+<p>One day she read from the same book a tale of a great noble, an
+earldoman who was ruler under the king of that part of the country where
+his possessions were, whose power was practically unlimited and his word
+law. But he was a wise and just man, regardful of the rights of others,
+even of the meanest of men, so that he was greatly reverenced and loved
+by the people. Nevertheless, he too, like all men in authority, both
+good and bad, had his enemies, and the chief of these was a noble of a
+proud and froward temper who had quarrelled with him about their
+respective rights in certain properties where their lands adjoined.
+Again and again it was shown to him that his contention was wrong; the
+judgments against him only served to increase his bitterness and
+hostility until it seemed that there would never be an end to that
+strife. This at length so incensed his powerful overlord that he was
+forcibly deprived of his possessions and driven out beggared from his
+home. But no punishment, however severe, could change his nature; it
+only roused him to greater fury, a more fixed determination to have his
+revenge, so that outcast as he was his enmity was still to be feared and
+he was a danger to the ruler and the community in general. Then, at
+last, the great earl said he would suffer this state of things no
+longer, and he ordered his men to go out and seek and take him captive
+and bring him up for a final judgment. This was done, and the ruler then
+said he would not have him put to death as he was advised to do, so as
+to be rid of him once for all, but would inflict a greater punishment on
+him. He then made them put heavy irons on his ankles, riveted so that
+they should never be removed, and condemned him to slavery and to labour
+every day in his fields and pleasure-grounds for the rest of his life.
+To see his hated enemy reduced to that condition would, he said, be a
+satisfaction to him whenever he walked in his gardens.</p>
+
+<p>These stern commands were obeyed, and when the miserable man refused to
+do his task and cried out in a rage that he would rather die, he was
+scourged until the blood ran from the wounds made by the lash; and at
+last, to escape from this torture, he was compelled to obey, and from
+morning to night he laboured on the land, planting and digging and doing
+whatever there was to do, always watched by his overseer, his food
+thrown to him as to a dog; laughed and jeered at by the meanest of the
+servants.</p>
+
+<p>After a certain time, when his body grew hardened so that he could
+labour all day without pain, and, being fatigued, sleep all night
+without waking, though he had nothing but straw on a stone floor to lie
+upon; and when he was no longer mocked or punished or threatened with
+the lash, he began to reflect more and more on his condition, and to
+think that it would be possible to him to make it more endurable. When
+brooding on it, when he repined and cursed, it then seemed to him worse
+than death; but when, occupied with his task, he forgot that he was the
+slave of his enemy, who had overcome and broken him, then it no longer
+seemed so heavy. The sun still shone for him as for others; the earth
+was as green, the sky as blue, the flowers as fragrant. This reflection
+made his misery less; and by and by it came into his mind that it would
+be lessened more and more if he could forget that his master was his
+enemy and cruel persecutor, who took delight in the thought of his
+sufferings; if he could imagine that he had a different master, a great
+and good man who had ever been kind to him and whom his sole desire was
+to please. This thought working in his mind began to give him a
+satisfaction in his toil, and this change in him was noticed by his
+taskmaster, who began to see that he did his work with an understanding
+so much above that of his fellows that all those who laboured with him
+were influenced by his example, and whatsoever the toil was in which he
+had a part the work was better done. From the taskmaster this change
+became known to the chief head of all the lands, who thereupon had him
+set to other more important tasks, so that at last he was not only a
+toiler with pick and spade and pruning knife, but his counsel was sought
+in everything that concerned the larger works on the land; in forming
+plantations, in the draining of wet grounds and building of houses and
+bridges and the making of new roads. And in all these works he acquitted
+himself well.</p>
+
+<p>Thus he laboured for years, and it all became known to the ruler, who at
+length ordered the man to be brought before him to receive yet another
+final judgment. And when he stood before him, hairy, dirty and unkempt,
+in his ragged raiment, with toil-hardened hands and heavy irons on his
+legs, he first ordered the irons to be removed.</p>
+
+<p>The smiths came with their files and hammers, and with much labour took
+them off.</p>
+
+<p>Then the ruler, his powerful old enemy, spoke these words to him: I do
+not know what your motives were in doing what you have done in all these
+years of your slavery; nor do I ask to be told. It is sufficient for me
+to know you have done these things, which are for my benefit and are a
+debt which must now be paid. You are henceforth free, and the
+possessions you were deprived of shall be restored to you, and as to the
+past and all the evil thoughts you had of me and all you did against me,
+it is forgiven and from this day will be forgotten. Go now in peace.</p>
+
+<p>When this last word had been spoken by his enemy, all that remained of
+the old hatred and bitterness went out of him, and it was as if his soul
+as well as his feet had been burdened with heavy irons and that they had
+now been removed, and that he was free with a freedom he had never known
+before.</p>
+
+<p>When the reading was finished, the queen with eyes cast down remained
+for some time immersed in thought; then with a keen glance at the maid's
+face she asked for the book, and opening it began slowly turning the
+leaves. By and by her face darkened, and in a stern tone of voice she
+said: Come here and show me in this book the parable you have just read,
+and then you shall also show me two or three other parables you have
+read to me on former occasions, which I cannot find.</p>
+
+<p>The maid, pale and trembling, came and dropped on her knees and begged
+forgiveness for having recited these three or four tales, which she had
+heard or read elsewhere and committed to memory, and had pretended to
+read them out of the book.</p>
+
+<p>Then the queen in a sudden rage said: Go from me and let me not see you
+again if you do not wish to be stripped and scourged and thrust naked
+out of the gates! And you only escape this punishment because the deceit
+you have been practising on me is, to my thinking, not of your own
+invention, but that of some crafty monk who is making you his
+instrument.</p>
+
+<p>Editha, terrified and weeping, hurriedly quitted the room.</p>
+
+<p>By and by, when that sudden tempest of rage had subsided, the
+despondence, which had been somewhat lightened by the maid's presence,
+came back on her so heavily that it was almost past endurance. She rose
+and went to her sleeping-room, and knelt before a table on which stood a
+crucifix with an image of the Saviour on it&mdash;the emblem of the religion
+she had so great a quarrel with. But not to pray. Folding her arms on
+the table and dropping her face on them she said: What have I done? And
+again and again she repeated: What have I done? Was it indeed a monk who
+taught her this deceit, or some higher being who put it in her mind to
+whisper a hope to my soul? To show me a way of escape from everlasting
+death&mdash;to labour in his fields and pleasure-grounds, a wretched slave
+with irons on her feet, to be scourged and mocked at, and in this state
+to cast out hatred and bitterness from my own soul and all remembrance
+of the injuries he had inflicted on me&mdash;to teach myself through long
+miserable years that this powerful enemy and persecutor is a kind and
+loving master? This is the parable, and now my soul tells me it would be
+a light punishment when I look at the red stains on these hands, and
+when the image of the boy I loved and murdered comes back to me. This
+then was the message, and I drove the messenger from me with cruel
+threats and insult.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly she rose, and going hurriedly out, called to her maids to bring
+Editha to her. They told her the maid had departed instantly on being
+dismissed, and had gone upwards of an hour. Then she ordered them to go
+and search for her in all the neighbourhood, at every house, and when
+they had found her to bring her back by persuasion or by force.</p>
+
+<p>They returned after a time only to say they had sought for her
+everywhere and had failed to find or hear any report of her, but that
+some of the mounted men who had gone to look for her on the roads had
+not yet returned.</p>
+
+<p>Left alone once more she turned to a window which looked towards
+Salisbury, and saw the westering sun hanging low in a sky of broken
+clouds over the valley of the Avon and the green downs on either side.
+And, still communing with herself, she said: I know that I shall not
+endure it long&mdash;this great fear of God&mdash;I know that it will madden me.
+And for the unforgiven who die mad there can be no hope. Only the sight
+of my maid's face with God's peace in it could save me from madness. No,
+I shall not go mad! I shall take it as a sign that I cannot be forgiven
+if the sun goes down without my seeing her again. I shall kill myself
+before madness comes and rest oblivious of life and all things, even of
+God's wrath, until the dreadful waking.</p>
+
+<p>For some time longer she continued standing motionless, watching the
+sun, now sinking behind a dark cloud, then emerging and lighting up the
+dim interior of her room and her stone-white, desolate face.</p>
+
+<p>Then once more her servants came back, and with them Editha, who had
+been found on the road to Salisbury, half-way there.</p>
+
+<p>Left alone together, the queen took the maid by the hand and led her to
+a seat, then fell on her knees before her and clasped her legs and
+begged her forgiveness. When the maid replied that she had forgiven her,
+and tried to raise her up, she resisted, and cried: No, I cannot rise
+from my knees nor loose my hold on you until I have confessed to you and
+you have promised to save me. Now I see in you not my maid who combs my
+hair and ties my shoe-strings, but one that God loves, whom he exalts
+above the queens and nobles of the earth, and while I cling to you he
+will not strike. Look into this heart that has hated him, look at its
+frightful passions, its blood-guiltiness, and have compassion on me! And
+if you, O Editha, should reply to me that it is his will, for he has
+said it, that every soul shall save itself, show me the way. How shall I
+approach him? Teach me humility!</p>
+
+<p>Thus she pleaded and abased herself. Nevertheless it was a hard task she
+imposed upon her helper, seeing that humility, of all virtues, was the
+most contrary to her nature. And when she was told that the first step
+to be taken was to be reconciled to the church, and to the head of the
+church, her chief enemy and persecutor, whose monks, obedient to his
+command, had blackened her name in all the land, her soul was in fierce
+revolt. Nevertheless she had to submit, seeing that God himself through
+his Son when on earth and his Son's disciples had established the
+church, and by that door only could any soul approach him. So there was
+an end to that conflict, and Elfrida, beaten and broken, although ever
+secretly hating the tonsured keepers of her soul, set forth under their
+guidance on her weary pilgrimage&mdash;the long last years of her bitter
+expiation.</p>
+
+<p>Yet there was to be one more conflict between the two women&mdash;the
+imperious mistress and the humble-minded maid. This was when Editha
+announced to the other that the time had now come for her to depart. But
+the queen wished to keep her, and tried by all means to do so, by
+pleading with her and by threatening to detain her by force. Then
+repenting her anger and remembering the great debt of gratitude owing to
+the girl, she resolved to reward her generously, to bestow wealth on
+her, but in such a form that it would appear to the girl as a beautiful
+parting gift from one who had loved her: only afterwards, when they were
+far apart, would she discover its real value.</p>
+
+<p>A memory of the past had come to her&mdash;of that day, sixteen years ago,
+when her lover came to her and using sweet flattering words poured out
+from a bag a great quantity of priceless jewels into her lap, and of the
+joy she had in the gift. Also how from the day of Athelwold's death she
+had kept those treasures put away in the same bag out of her sight. Nor
+in all the days of her life with Edgar had she ever worn a gem, though
+she had always loved to array herself magnificently, but her ornaments
+had been gold only, the work of the best artists in Europe. Now, in
+imitation of Athelwold, when his manner of bestowing the jewels had so
+charmed her, she would bestow them on the girl.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly when the moment of separation came and Editha was made to
+seat herself, the queen standing over her with the bag in her hand said:
+Do you, Editha, love all beautiful things? And when the maid had replied
+that she did, the other said: Then take these gems, which are beautiful,
+as a parting gift from me. And with that she poured out the mass of
+glittering jewels into the girl's lap.</p>
+
+<p>But the maid without touching or even looking at them, and with a cry, I
+want no jewels! started to her feet so that they were all scattered upon
+the floor.</p>
+
+<p>The queen stared astonished at the face before her with its new look of
+pride and excitement, then with rising anger she said: Is my maid too
+proud then to accept a gift from me? Does she not know that a single one
+of those gems thrown on the floor would be more than a fortune to her?</p>
+
+<p>The girl replied in the same proud way: I am not your maid, and gems are
+no more to me than pebbles from the brook!</p>
+
+<p>Then all at once recovering her meek, gentle manner she cried in a voice
+that pierced the queen's heart: O, not your maid, only your
+fellow-worker in our Master's fields and pleasure-grounds! Before I ever
+beheld your face, and since we have been together, my heart has bled for
+you, and my daily cry to God has been: Forgive her! Forgive her, for his
+sake who died for our sins! And this shall I continue to cry though I
+shall see you no more on earth. But we shall meet again. Not, O unhappy
+queen, at life's end, but long afterwards&mdash;long, long years! long ages!</p>
+
+<p>Dropping on her knees she caught and kissed the queen's hand, shedding
+abundant tears on it, then rose and was quickly gone.</p>
+
+<p>Elfrida, left to herself, scarcely recovered from the shock of surprise
+at that sudden change in the girl's manner, began to wonder at her own
+blindness in not having seen through her disguise from the first. The
+revelation had come to her only at the last moment in that proud gesture
+and speech when her gift was rejected, not without scorn. A child of
+nobles great as any in the land, what had made her do this thing? What
+indeed but the heavenly spirit that was in her, the spirit that was in
+Christ&mdash;the divine passion to save!</p>
+
+<p>Now she began to ponder on those last words the maid had spoken, and the
+more she thought of them the greater became her sadness until it was
+like the approach of death. O terrible words! Yet it was what she had
+feared, even when she had dared to hope for forgiveness. Now she knew
+what her life after death was to be since the word had been spoken by
+those inspired lips. O dreadful destiny! To dwell alone, to tread alone
+that desert desolate, that illimitable waste of burning sand stretching
+from star to star through infinite space, where was no rock nor tree to
+give her shade, no fountain to quench her fiery thirst! For that was how
+she imaged the future life, as a desert to be dwelt in until in the end,
+when in God's good time&mdash;the time of One to whom a thousand years are as
+one day&mdash;she would receive the final pardon and be admitted to rest in a
+green and shaded place.</p>
+
+<p>Overcome with the agonising thought she sank down on her couch and fell
+into a faint. In that state she was found by her women, reclining, still
+as death, with eyes closed, the whiteness of death in her face; and
+thinking her dead they rushed out terrified, crying aloud and lamenting
+that the queen was dead.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2>
+
+
+<p>She was not dead. She recovered from that swoon, but never from the
+deep, unbroken sadness caused by those last words of the maid Editha,
+which had overcome and nearly slain her. She now abandoned her
+seclusion, but the world she returned to was not the old one. The
+thought that every person she met was saying in his or her heart: This
+is Elfrida; this is the queen who murdered Edward the Martyr, her
+step-son, made that world impossible. The men and women she now
+consorted with were the religious and ecclesiastics of all degrees, and
+abbots and abbesses. These were the people she loved least, yet now into
+their hands she deliberately gave herself; and to those who questioned
+her, to her spiritual guides, she revealed all her life and thoughts and
+passions, opening her soul to their eyes like a manuscript for them to
+read and consider; and when they told her that in God's sight she was
+guilty of the murder both of Edward and Athelwold, she replied that they
+doubtless knew best what was in God's mind, and whatever they commanded
+her to do that should be done, and if in her own mind it was not as they
+said this could be taken as a defect in her understanding. For in her
+heart she was not changed, and had not yet and never would learn the
+bitter lesson of humility. Furthermore, she knew better than they what
+life and death had in store for her, since it had been revealed to her
+by holier lips than those of any priest. Lips on which had been laid a
+coal from the heavenly altar, and what they had foretold would come to
+pass&mdash;that unearthly pilgrimage and purification&mdash;that destiny,
+dreadful, ineluctable, that made her soul faint to think of it. Here, on
+this earth, it was for her to toil, a slave with heavy irons on her
+feet, in her master's fields and pleasure-grounds, and these gowned men
+with shaven heads, wearing ropes of beads and crucifixes as emblems of
+their authority&mdash;these were the taskmasters set over her, and to these,
+she, Elfrida, one time queen in England, would bend in submission and
+humbly confess her sins, and uncomplainingly take whatever austerities
+or other punishments they decreed.</p>
+
+<p>Here, then, at Amesbury itself, she began her works of expiation, and
+found that she, too, like the unhappy man in the parable, could
+experience some relief and satisfaction in her solitary embittered
+existence in the work itself.</p>
+
+<p>Having been told that at this village where she was living a monastery
+had existed and had been destroyed in the dreadful wars of two to three
+centuries ago, she conceived the idea of founding a new one, a nunnery,
+and endowing it richly, and accordingly the Abbey of Amesbury was built
+and generously endowed by her.</p>
+
+<p>This religious house became famous in after days, and was resorted to by
+the noblest ladies in the land who desired to take the veil, including
+princesses and widow queens; and it continued to flourish for centuries,
+down to the Dissolution.</p>
+
+<p>This work completed, she returned, after nineteen years, to her old home
+at Wherwell. Since she had lost sight of her maid Editha, she had been
+possessed with a desire to re-visit that spot, where she had been happy
+as a young bride and had repined in solitude and had had her glorious
+triumph and stained her soul with crime. She craved for it again,
+especially to look once more at the crystal current of the Test in which
+she had been accustomed to dip her hands. The grave, saintly face of
+Editha had reminded her of that stream; and Editha she might not see.
+She could not seek for her, nor speak to her, nor cry to her to come
+back to her, since she had said that they would meet no more on earth.</p>
+
+<p>Having become possessed of the castle which she had once regarded as her
+prison and cage, she ordered its demolition and used the materials in
+building the abbey she founded at that spot, and it was taken for
+granted by the Church that this was done in expiation of the part she
+had taken in Athelwold's murder. At this spot where the stream became
+associated in her mind with the thought of Editha, and was a sacred
+stream, she resolved to end her days. But the time of her retirement was
+not yet, there was much still waiting for her to do in her master's
+fields and pleasure-grounds. For no sooner had the tidings of her work
+in founding these monasteries and the lavish use she was making of her
+great wealth been spread abroad, than from many religious houses all
+over the land the cry was sent to her&mdash;the Macedonian cry to St. Paul to
+come over and help us.</p>
+
+<p>From the houses founded by Edgar the cry was particularly loud and
+insistent. There were forty-seven of them, and had not Edgar died so
+soon there would have been fifty, that being the number he had set his
+heart on in his fervid zeal for religion. All, alas! were insufficiently
+endowed; and it was for Elfrida, as they were careful to point out, to
+increase their income from her great wealth, seeing that this would
+enable them to associate her name with that of Edgar and keep it in
+memory, and this would be good for her soul.</p>
+
+<p>To all such calls she listened, and she performed many and long journeys
+to the religious houses all over the country to look closely into their
+conditions and needs, and to all she gave freely or in moderation, but
+not always without a gesture of scorn. For in her heart of hearts she
+was still Elfrida and unchanged, albeit outwardly she had attained to
+humility; only once during these years of travel and toil when she was
+getting rid of her wealth did she allow her secret bitterness and
+hostility to her ecclesiastical guides and advisers to break out.</p>
+
+<p>She was at Worcester, engaged in a conference with the bishop and
+several of his clergy; they were sitting at an oak table with some
+papers and plans before them, when the news was brought into the room
+that Archbishop Dunstan was dead.</p>
+
+<p>They all, except Elfrida, started to their feet with the looks and
+exclamations of dismay, as if some frightful calamity had come to pass.
+Then dropping to their knees with bowed heads and lifted hands they
+prayed for the repose of his soul. They prayed silently, but the silence
+was broken by a laugh from the queen. Starting to his feet the bishop
+turned on her a severe countenance, and asked why she laughed at that
+solemn moment.</p>
+
+<p>She replied that she had laughed unthinkingly, as the linnet sings, from
+pure joy of heart at the glad tidings that their holy archbishop had
+been translated to paradise. For if he had done so much for England when
+burdened with the flesh, how much more would he be able to do now from
+the seat or throne to which he would be exalted in heaven in virtue of
+the position his blessed mother now occupied in that place.</p>
+
+<p>The bishop, angered at her mocking words, turned his back on her, and
+the others, following his example, averted their faces, but not one word
+did they utter.</p>
+
+<p>They remembered that Dunstan in former years, when striving to make
+himself all powerful in the kingdom, had made free use of a supernatural
+machinery; that when he wanted something done and it could not be done
+in any other way, he received a command from heaven, brought to him by
+some saint or angel, to have it done, and the command had then to be
+obeyed. They also remembered that when Dunstan, as he informed them, had
+been snatched up into the seventh heaven, he did not on his return to
+earth modestly, like St. Paul, that it was not lawful for him to speak
+of the things which he had heard and seen, but he proclaimed them to an
+astonished world in his loudest trumpet voice. Also, that when, by these
+means, he had established his power and influence and knew that he could
+trust his own subtle brains to maintain his position, he had dropped the
+miracles and visions. And it had come to pass that when the archbishop
+had seen fit to leave the supernatural element out of his policy, the
+heads of the Church in England were only too pleased to have it so. The
+world had gaped with astonishment at these revelations long enough, and
+its credulity had come near to the breaking point, on which account the
+raking up of these perilous matters by the queen was fiercely resented.</p>
+
+<p>But the queen was not yet satisfied that enough had been said by her.
+Now she was in full revolt she must give out once for all the hatred of
+her old enemy, which his death had not appeased.</p>
+
+<p>What mean you, Fathers, she cried, by turning your backs on me and
+keeping silence? Is it an insult to me you intend or to the memory of
+that great and holy man who has just quitted the earth? Will you dare to
+say that the reports he brought to us of the marvellous doings he
+witnessed in heaven, when he was taken there, were false and the lies
+and inventions of Satan, whose servant he was?</p>
+
+<p>More than that she was not allowed to say, for now the bishop in a
+mighty rage swung round, and dealt a blow on the table with such fury
+that his arm was disabled by it, he shouted at her: Not another word!
+Hold your mocking tongue, fiendish woman! Then plucking up his gown with
+his left hand for fear of being tripped up by it he rushed out of the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>The others, still keeping their faces averted from her, followed at a
+more dignified pace; and seeing them depart she cried after them: Go,
+Fathers, and tell your bishop that if he had not run away so soon he
+would have been rewarded for his insolence by a slap in the face.</p>
+
+<p>This outburst on her part caused no lasting break in her relations with
+the Church. It was to her merely an incident in her long day's toil in
+her master's fields&mdash;a quarrel she had had with an overseer; while he,
+on his side, even before he recovered the use of his injured arm,
+thought it best for their souls, as well as for the interests of the
+Church, to say no more about it. Her great works of expiation were
+accordingly continued. But the time at length arrived for her to take
+her long-desired rest before facing the unknown dreaded future. She was
+not old in years, but remorse and a deep settled melancholy and her
+frequent fierce wrestlings with her own rebellious nature as with an
+untamed dangerous animal chained to her had made her old. Furthermore,
+she had by now well-nigh expended all her possessions and wealth, even
+to the gems she had once prized and then thrust away out of sight for
+many years, and which her maid Editha had rejected with scorn, saying
+they were no more to her than pebbles from the brook.</p>
+
+<p>Once more at Wherwell, she entered the Abbey, and albeit she took the
+veil herself she was not under the same strict rule as her sister nuns.
+The Abbess herself retired to Winchester and ruled the convent from that
+city, while Elfrida had the liberty she desired, to live and do as she
+liked in her own rooms and attend prayers and meals only when inclined
+to do so. There, as always, since Edward's death, her life was a
+solitary one, and in the cold season she would have her fire of logs and
+sit before it as in the old days in the castle, brooding ever on her
+happy and unhappy past and on the awful future, the years and centuries
+of suffering and purification.</p>
+
+<p>It was chiefly this thought of the solitariness of that future state,
+that companionless way, centuries long, that daunted her. Here in this
+earthly state, darkened as it was, there were yet two souls she could
+and constantly did hold communion with&mdash;Editha still on earth, though
+not with her, and Edward in heaven; but in that dreadful desert to which
+she would be banished there would be a great gulf set between her soul
+and theirs.</p>
+
+<p>But perhaps there would be others she had known, whose lives had been
+interwoven with hers, she would be allowed to commune with in that same
+place. Edgar of a certainty would be there, although Glastonbury had
+built him a chapel and put him in a silver tomb and had begun to call
+him Saint Edgar. Would he find her and seek to have speech with her? It
+was anguish to her even to think of such an encounter. She would say, Do
+not come to me, for rather would I be alone in this dreadful solitude
+for a thousand years than have you, Edgar, for company. For I have not
+now one thought or memory of you in my soul that is not bitter. It is
+true that I once loved you: even before I saw your face I loved you, and
+said in my heart that we two were destined to be one. And my love
+increased when we were united, and you gave me my heart's desire&mdash;the
+power I loved, and glory in the sight of the world. And although in my
+heart I laughed at your pretended zeal for a pure religion while you
+were gratifying your lower desires and chasing after fair women all over
+the land, I admired and gloried in your nobler qualities, your activity
+and vigilance in keeping the peace within your borders, and in making
+England master of the seas, so that the pirate kings of the North
+ventured not to approach our shores. But on your own gross appetites you
+would put no restraint, but gave yourself up to wine and gluttony and
+made a companion of Death, even in the flower of your age you were
+playing with Death, and when you had lived but half your years you rode
+away with Death and left me alone; you, Edgar, the mighty hunter and
+slayer of wolves, you rode away and left me to the wolves, alone, in a
+dark forest. Therefore the guilt of Edward's death is yours more than
+mine, though my soul is stained red with his blood, seeing that you left
+me to fight alone, and in my madness, not knowing what I did, I stained
+myself with this crime.</p>
+
+<p>But what you have done to me is of little moment, seeing that mine is
+but one soul of the many thousands that were given into your keeping,
+and your crime in wasting your life for the sake of base pleasures was
+committed against an entire nation, and not of the living only but also
+the great and glorious dead of the race of Cerdic&mdash;of the men who have
+laboured these many centuries, shedding their blood on a hundred
+stricken fields, to build up this kingdom of England; and when their
+mighty work was completed it was given into your hands to keep and
+guard. And you died and abandoned it; Death, your playmate, has taken
+you away, and Edgar's peace is no more. Now your ships are scattered or
+sunk in the sea, now the invaders are again on your coasts as in the old
+dreadful days, burning and slaying, and want is everywhere and fear is
+in all hearts throughout the land. And the king, your son, who inherited
+your beautiful face and nought beside except your vices and whatever was
+least worthy of a king, he too is now taking his pleasure, even as you
+took yours, in a gay bejewelled dress, with some shameless woman at his
+side and a wine-cup in his hand. O unhappy mother that I am, that I must
+curse the day a son was born to me! O grief immitigable that it was my
+deed, my dreadful deed, that raised him to the throne&mdash;the throne that
+was Alfred's and Edmund's and Athelstan's!</p>
+
+<p>These were the thoughts that were her only company as she sat brooding
+before her winter fire, day after day, and winter following winter,
+while the years deepened the lines of anguish on her face and whitened
+the hair that was once red gold.</p>
+
+<p>But in the summer time she was less unhappy, for then she could spend
+the long hours out of doors under the sky in the large shaded gardens of
+the convent with the stream for boundary on the lower side. This stream
+had now become more to her than in the old days when, languishing in
+solitude, she had made it a companion and confidant. For now it had
+become associated in her mind with the image of the maid Editha, and
+when she sat again at the old spot on the bank gazing on the swift
+crystal current, then dipping her hand in it and putting the wetted hand
+to her lips, the stream and Editha were one.</p>
+
+<p>Then one day she was missed, and for a long time they sought for her all
+through the building and in the grounds without finding her. Then the
+seekers heard a loud cry, and saw one of the nuns running towards the
+convent door, with her hands pressed to her face as if to shut out some
+dreadful sight; and when they called to her she pointed back towards the
+stream and ran on to the house. Then all the sisters who were out in the
+grounds hurried down to the stream to the spot where Elfrida was
+accustomed to sit, and were horrified to see her lying drowned in the
+water.</p>
+
+<p>It was a hot, dry summer and the stream was low, and in stooping to dip
+her hand in the water she had lost her balance and fallen in, and
+although the water was but three feet deep she had in her feebleness
+been unable to save herself. She was lying on her back on the clearly
+seen bed of many-coloured pebbles, her head pointing downstream, and the
+swift fretting current had carried away her hood and pulled out her long
+abundant silver-white hair, and the current played with her hair, now
+pulling it straight out, then spreading it wide over the surface, mixing
+its silvery threads with the hair-like green blades of the floating
+water-grass. And the dead face was like marble; but the wide-open eyes
+that had never wholly lost their brilliance and the beautiful lungwort
+blue colour were like living eyes&mdash;living and gazing through the
+crystal-clear running water at the group of nuns staring down with
+horror-struck faces at her.</p>
+
+<p>Thus ended Elfrida's darkened life; nor did it seem an unfit end; for it
+was as if she had fallen into the arms of the maiden who had in her
+thoughts become one with the stream&mdash;the saintly Editha through whose
+sacrifice and intercession she had been saved from death everlasting.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="AN_OLD_THORN" id="AN_OLD_THORN"></a>AN OLD THORN</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="illus_003" id="illus_003"></a>
+<img src="images/illus_003.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>HAWTHORN AND IVY NEAR THE GREAT RIDGE WOOD.</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="I2" id="I2"></a>I</h2>
+
+
+<p>The little village of Ingden lies in a hollow of the South Wiltshire
+Downs, the most isolated of the villages in that lonely district. Its
+one short street is crossed at right angles in the middle part by the
+Salisbury road, and standing just at that point, the church on one hand,
+the old inn on the other, you can follow it with the eye for a distance
+of nearly three miles. First it goes winding up the low down under which
+the village stands, then vanishes over the brow to reappear again a mile
+and a half further away as a white band on the vast green slope of the
+succeeding down, which rises to a height of over 600 feet. On the summit
+it vanishes once more, but those who use it know it for a laborious road
+crossing several high ridges before dropping down into the valley road
+leading to Salisbury.</p>
+
+<p>When, standing in the village street, your eye travels up that white
+band, you can distinctly make out even at that distance a small,
+solitary tree standing near the summit&mdash;an old thorn with an ivy growing
+on it. My walks were often that way, and invariably on coming to that
+point I would turn twenty yards aside from the road to spend half an
+hour seated on the turf near or under the old tree. These half-hours
+were always grateful; and conscious that the tree drew me to it I
+questioned myself as to the reason. It was, I told myself, nothing but
+mental curiosity: my interest was a purely scientific one. For how comes
+it, I asked, that a thorn can grow to a tree and live to a great age in
+such a situation, on a vast, naked down, where for many centuries,
+perhaps for thousands of years, the herbage has been so closely fed by
+sheep as to have the appearance of a carpet, or newly mown lawn? The
+seed is carried and scattered everywhere by the birds, but no sooner
+does it germinate and send up a shoot than it is eaten down to the
+roots; for there is no scent that attracts a sheep more, no flavour it
+has greater taste for, than that of any forest seedling springing up
+amidst the minute herbaceous plants which carpet the downs. The thorn,
+like other organisms, has its own unconscious intelligence and cunning,
+by means of which it endeavours to save itself and fulfil its life. It
+opens its first tender leaves under the herbage, and at the same time
+thrusts up a vertical spine to wound the nibbling mouth; and no sooner
+has it got a leaf or two and a spine than it spreads its roots all
+round, and from each of them springs a fresh shoot, leaves and
+protecting spine, to increase the chances of preservation. In vain! the
+cunning animal finds a way to defeat all this strategy, and after the
+leaves have been bitten off again and again, the infant plant gives up
+the struggle and dies in the ground. Yet we see that from time to time
+one survives&mdash;one perhaps in a million; but how&mdash;whether by a quicker
+growth or a harder or more poisonous thorn, an unpalatable leaf, or some
+other secret agency&mdash;we cannot guess. First as a diminutive scrubby
+shrub, with numerous iron-hard stems, with few and small leaves but many
+thorns, it keeps its poor flowerless frustrate life for perhaps half a
+century or longer, without growing more than a couple of feet high; and
+then, as by a miracle, it will spring up until its top shoots are out of
+reach of the browsing sheep, and in the end it becomes a tree with
+spreading branches and fully developed leaves, and flowers and fruit in
+their season.</p>
+
+<p>One day I was visited by an artist from a distance who, when shown the
+thorn, pronounced it a fine subject for his pencil, and while he made
+his picture we talked about the hawthorn generally as compared with
+other trees, and agreed that, except in its blossoming time when it is
+merely pretty, it is the most engaging and perhaps the most beautiful of
+our native trees. We said that it was the most <i>individual</i> of trees,
+that its variety was infinite, for you never find two alike, whether
+growing in a forest, in groups, or masses, or alone. We were almost
+lyrical in its praises. But the solitary thorn was always best, he said,
+and this one was perhaps the best of all he had seen: strange and at the
+same time decorative in its form, beautiful too in its appearance of
+great age with unimpaired vigour and something more in its
+expression&mdash;that elusive something which we find in some trees and don't
+know how to explain.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, yes, thought I, it was this appeal to the &aelig;sthetic faculty which
+attracted me from the first, and not, as I had imagined, the mere
+curiosity of the naturalist interested mainly and always in the <i>habits</i>
+of living things, plant or animal.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly the thorn had strangeness. Its appearance as to height was
+deceptive; one would have guessed it eighteen feet; measuring it I was
+surprised to find it only ten. It has four separate boles, springing
+from one root, leaning a little away from each other, the thickest just
+a foot in circumference. The branches are few, beginning at about five
+feet from the ground, the foliage thin, the leaves throughout the summer
+stained with grey, rust-red, and purple colour. Though so small and
+exposed to the full fury of every wind that blows over that vast naked
+down, it has yet an ivy growing on it&mdash;the strangest of the many strange
+ivy-plants I have seen. It comes out of the ground as two ivy trunks on
+opposite sides of the stoutest bole, but at a height of four feet from
+the surface the two join and ascend the tree as one round iron-coloured
+and iron-hard stem, which goes curving and winding snakewise among the
+branches as if with the object of roping them to save them from being
+torn off by the winds. Finally, rising to the top, the long serpent stem
+opens out in a flat disc-shaped mass of close-packed branchlets and
+twigs densely set with small round leaves, dark dull green and tough as
+parchment. One could only suppose that thorn and ivy had been partners
+from the beginning of life, and that the union was equally advantageous
+to both.</p>
+
+<p>The small ivy disc or platform on top of the tree was a favourite stand
+and look-out for the downland birds. I seldom visited the spot without
+disturbing some of them, now a little company of missel-thrushes, now a
+crowd of starlings, then perhaps a dozen rooks, crowded together,
+looking very big and conspicuous on their little platform.</p>
+
+<p>Being curious to find out something about the age of the tree, I
+determined to put the question to my old friend Malachi, aged
+eighty-nine, who was born and had always lived in the parish and had
+known the downs and probably every tree growing on them for miles around
+from his earliest years. It was my custom to drop in of an evening and
+sit with him, listening to his endless reminiscences of his young days.
+That evening I spoke of the thorn, describing its position and
+appearance, thinking that perhaps he had forgotten it. How long, I asked
+him, had the thorn been there?</p>
+
+<p>He was one of those men, usually of the labouring class, to be met with
+in such lonely, out-of-the-world places as the Wiltshire Downs, whose
+eyes never look old however many their years may be, and are more like
+the eyes of a bird or animal than a human being, for they gaze at you
+and through you when you speak without appearing to know what you say.
+So it was on this occasion; he looked straight at me with no sign of
+understanding, no change in his clear grey eyes, and answered nothing.
+But I would not be put off, and when, raising my voice, I repeated the
+question, he replied, after another interval of silence, that the thorn
+"was never any different." 'Twas just the same, ivy and all, when he
+were a small boy. It looked just so old; why, he remembered his old
+father saying the same thing&mdash;'twas the same when he were a boy, and
+'twas the same in his father's time. Then anxious to escape from the
+subject he began talking of something else.</p>
+
+<p>It struck me that after all the most interesting thing about the thorn
+was its appearance of great age, and this aspect I had now been told had
+continued for at least a century, probably for a much longer time. It
+produced a reverent feeling in me such as we experience at the sight of
+some ancient stone monument. But the tree was alive, and because of its
+life the feeling was perhaps stronger than in the case of a granite
+cross or cromlech or other memorial of antiquity.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting by the thorn one day it occurred to me that, growing at this
+spot close to the road and near the summit of that vast down, numberless
+persons travelling to and from Salisbury must have turned aside to rest
+on the turf in the shade after that laborious ascent or before beginning
+the long descent to the valley below. Travellers of all conditions, on
+foot or horseback, in carts and carriages, merchants, bagmen, farmers,
+drovers, gipsies, tramps and vagrants of all descriptions, and from time
+to time troops of soldiers. Yet never one of them had injured the tree
+in any way! I could not remember ever finding a tree growing alone by
+the roadside in a lonely place which had not the marks of many old and
+new wounds inflicted on its trunk with knives, hatchets, and other
+implements. Here not a mark, not a scratch had been made on any one of
+its four trunks or on the ivy stem by any thoughtless or mischievous
+person, nor had any branch been cut or broken off. Why had they one and
+all respected this tree?</p>
+
+<p>It was another subject to talk to Malachi about, and to him I went after
+tea and found him with three of his neighbours sitting by the fire and
+talking; for though it was summer the old man always had a fire in the
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>They welcomed and made room for me, but I had no sooner broached the
+subject in my mind than they all fell into silence, then after a brief
+interval the three callers began to discuss some little village matter.
+I was not going to be put off in that way, and, leaving them out, went
+on talking to Malachi about the tree. Presently one by one the three
+visitors got up and, remarking that it was time to be going, they took
+their departure.</p>
+
+<p>The old man could not escape nor avoid listening, and in the end had to
+say something. He said he didn't know nothing about all them tramps and
+gipsies and other sorts of men who had sat by the tree; all he knowed
+was that the old thorn had been a good thorn to him&mdash;first and last. He
+remembered once when he was a young man, not yet twenty, he went to do
+some work at a village five miles away, and being winter time he left
+early, about four o'clock, to walk home over the downs. He had just got
+married, and had promised his wife to be home for tea at six o'clock.
+But a thick fog came up over the downs, and soon as it got dark he lost
+himself. 'Twas the darkest, thickest night he had ever been out in; and
+whenever he came against a bank or other obstruction he would get down
+on his hands and knees and feel it up and down to get its shape and find
+out what it was, for he knew all the marks on his native downs; 'twas
+all in vain&mdash;nothing could he recognise. In this way he wandered about
+for hours, and was in despair of getting home that night, when all at
+once there came a sense of relief, a feeling that it was all right, that
+something was guiding him.</p>
+
+<p>I remarked that I knew what that meant: he had lost his sense of
+direction and had now all at once recovered it; such a thing had often
+happened; I once had such an experience myself.</p>
+
+<p>No, it was not that, he returned. He had not gone a dozen steps from the
+moment that sense of confidence came to him, before he ran into a tree,
+and feeling the trunk with his hands he recognised it as the old thorn
+and knew where he was. In a couple of minutes he was on the road, and in
+less than an hour, just about midnight, he was safe at home.</p>
+
+<p>No more could I get out of him, at all events on that occasion; nor did
+I ever succeed in extracting any further personal experience in spite of
+his having let out that the thorn had been a good thorn to him, first
+and last. I had, however, heard enough to satisfy me that I had at
+length discovered the real secret of the tree's fascination. I recalled
+other trees which had similarly affected me, and how, long years ago,
+when a good deal of my time was spent on horseback, whenever I found
+myself in a certain district I would go miles out of my way just to look
+at a solitary old tree growing in a lonely place, and to sit for an hour
+to refresh myself, body and soul, in its shade. I had indeed all along
+suspected the thorn of being one of this order of mysterious trees; and
+from other experiences I had met with, one some years ago in a village
+in this same county of Wilts, I had formed the opinion that in many
+persons the sense of a strange intelligence and possibility of power in
+such trees is not a mere transitory state but an enduring influence
+which profoundly affects their whole lives.</p>
+
+<p>Determined to find out something more, I went to other villagers, mostly
+women, who are more easily disarmed and made to believe that you too
+know and are of the same mind with them, being under the same mysterious
+power and spell. In this way, laying many a subtle snare, I succeeded in
+eliciting a good deal of information. It was, however, mostly of a kind
+which could not profitably be used in any inquiry into the subject; it
+simply went to show that the feeling existed and was strong in many of
+the villagers. During this inquiry I picked up several anecdotes about a
+person who lived in Ingden close upon three generations ago, and was
+able to piece them together so as to make a consistent narrative of his
+life. This was Johnnie Budd, a farm labourer, who came to his end in
+1821, a year or so before my old friend Malachi was born. It is going
+very far back, but there were circumstances in his life which made a
+deep impression on the mind of that little community, and the story had
+lived on through all these years.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="II2" id="II2"></a>II</h2>
+
+
+<p>Johnnie had fallen on hard times when in an exceptionally severe winter
+season he with others had been thrown out of employment at the farm
+where he worked; then with a wife and three small children to keep he
+had in his desperation procured food for them one dark night in an
+adjacent field. But alas! one of the little ones playing in the road
+with some of her companions, who were all very hungry, let it out that
+she wasn't hungry, that for three days she had had as much nice meat as
+she wanted to eat! Play over, the hungry little ones flew home to tell
+their parents the wonderful news&mdash;why didn't they have nice meat like
+Tilly Budd, instead of a piece of rye bread without even dripping on it,
+when they were so hungry? Much talk followed, and spread from cottage to
+cottage until it reached the constable's ears, and he, already informed
+of the loss of a wether taken from its fold close by, went straight to
+Johnnie and charged him with the offence. Johnnie lost his head, and
+dropping on his knees confessed his guilt and begged his old friend
+Lampard to have mercy on him and to overlook it for the sake of his wife
+and children.</p>
+
+<p>It was his first offence, but when he was taken from the lock-up at the
+top of the village street to be conveyed to Salisbury, his friends and
+neighbours who had gathered at the spot to witness his removal shook
+their heads and doubted that Ingden would ever see him again. The
+confession had made the case so simple a one that he had at once been
+committed to take his trial at the Salisbury Assizes, and as the time
+was near the constable had been ordered to convey the prisoner to the
+town himself. Accordingly he engaged old Joe Blaskett, called Daddy in
+the village, to take them in his pony cart. Daddy did not want the job,
+but was talked or bullied into it, and there he now sat in his cart,
+waiting in glum silence for his passengers; a bent old man of eighty,
+with a lean, grey, bitter face, in his rusty cloak, his old rabbit-skin
+cap drawn down over his ears, his white disorderly beard scattered over
+his chest. The constable Lampard was a big, powerful man, with a great
+round, good-natured face, but just now he had a strong sense of
+responsibility, and to make sure of not losing his prisoner he
+handcuffed him before bringing him out and helping him to take his seat
+on the bottom of the cart. Then he got up himself to his seat by the
+driver's side; the last good-bye was spoken, the weeping wife being
+gently led away by her friends, and the cart rattled away down the
+street. Turning into the Salisbury road it was soon out of sight over
+the near down, but half an hour later it emerged once more into sight
+beyond the great dip, and the villagers who had remained standing about
+at the same spot watched it crawling like a beetle up the long white
+road on the slope of the vast down beyond.</p>
+
+<p>Johnnie was now lying coiled up on his rug, his face hidden between his
+arms, abandoned to grief, sobbing aloud. Lampard, sitting athwart the
+seat so as to keep an eye on him, burst out at last: "Be a man, Johnnie,
+and stop your crying! 'Tis making things no better by taking on like
+that. What do you say, Daddy?"</p>
+
+<p>"I say nought," snapped the old man, and for a while they proceeded in
+silence except for those heartrending sobs. As they approached the old
+thorn tree, near the top of the long slope, Johnnie grew more and more
+agitated, his whole frame shaking with his sobbing. Again the constable
+rebuked him, telling him that 'twas a shame for a man to go on like
+that. Then with an effort he restrained his sobs, and lifting a red,
+swollen, tear-stained face he stammered out: "Master Lampard, did I ever
+ask 'ee a favour in my life?"</p>
+
+<p>"What be after now?" said the other suspiciously. "Well, no, Johnnie,
+not as I remember."</p>
+
+<p>"An' do 'ee think I'll ever come back home again, Master Lampard?"</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe no, maybe yes; 'tis not for me to say."</p>
+
+<p>"But 'ee knows 'tis a hanging matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis that for sure. But you be a young man with a wife and childer, and
+have never done no wrong before&mdash;not that I ever heard say. Maybe the
+judge'll recommend you to mercy. What do you say, Daddy?"</p>
+
+<p>The old man only made some inarticulate sounds in his beard, without
+turning his head.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Master Lampard, suppose I don't swing, they'll send I over the
+water and I'll never see the wife and children no more."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe so; I'm thinking that's how 'twill be."</p>
+
+<p>"Then will 'ee do me a kindness? 'Tis the only one I ever asked 'ee, and
+there'll be no chance to ask 'ee another."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't say, Johnnie, not till I know what 'tis you want."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis only this, Master Lampard. When we git to th' old thorn let me out
+o' the cart and let me stand under it one minnit and no more."</p>
+
+<p>"Be you wanting to hang yourself before the trial then?" said the
+constable, trying to make a joke of it.</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't do that," said Johnnie, simply, "seeing my hands be fast and
+you'd be standing by."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, Johnnie, 'tis nought but just foolishness. What do you say,
+Daddy?"</p>
+
+<p>The old man turned round with a look of sudden rage in his grey face
+which startled Lampard; but he said nothing, he only opened and shut his
+mouth two or three times without a sound.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the pony had been going slower and slower for the last thirty
+or forty yards, and now when they were abreast of the tree stood still.</p>
+
+<p>"What be stopping for?" cried Lampard. "Get on&mdash;get on, or we'll never
+get to Salisbury this day."</p>
+
+<p>Then at length old Blaskett found a voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Does thee know what thee's saying, Master Lampard, or be thee a
+stranger in this parish?"</p>
+
+<p>"What d'ye mean, Daddy? I be no stranger; I've a-known this parish and
+known 'ee these nine years."</p>
+
+<p>"Thee asked why I stopped when 'twas the pony stopped, knowing where
+we'd got to. But thee's not born here or thee'd a-known what a hoss
+knows. An' since 'ee asks what I says, I say this, 'twill not hurt 'ee
+to let Johnnie Budd stand one minute by the tree."</p>
+
+<p>Feeling insulted and puzzled the constable was about to assert his
+authority when he was arrested by Johnnie's cry, "Oh, Master Lampard,
+'tis my last hope!" and by the sight of the agony of suspense on his
+swollen face. After a short hesitation he swung himself out over the
+side of the cart, and letting down the tailboard laid rough hands on
+Johnnie and half helped, half dragged him out.</p>
+
+<p>They were quickly by the tree, where Johnnie stood silent with downcast
+eyes a few moments; then dropping upon his knees leant his face against
+the bark, his eyes closed, his lips murmuring.</p>
+
+<p>"Time's up!" cried Lampard presently, and taking him by the collar
+pulled him to his feet; in a couple of minutes more they were in the
+cart and on their way.</p>
+
+<p>It was grey weather, very cold, with an east wind blowing, but for the
+rest of that dreary thirteen-miles journey Johnnie was very quiet and
+submissive and shed no more tears.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="III2" id="III2"></a>III</h2>
+
+
+<p>What had been his motive in wishing to stand by the tree? What did he
+expect when he said it was his last hope? During the way up the long,
+laborious slope, an incident of his early years in connection with the
+tree had been in his mind, and had wrought on him until it culminated in
+that passionate outburst and his strange request. It was when he was a
+boy, not quite ten years old, that, one afternoon in the summer time, he
+went with other children to look for wild raspberries on the summit of
+the great down. Johnnie, being the eldest, was the leader of the little
+band. On the way back from the brambly place where the fruit grew, on
+approaching the thorn, they spied a number of rooks sitting on it, and
+it came into Johnnie's mind that it would be great fun to play at crows
+by sitting on the branches as near the top as they could get. Running
+on, with cries that sent the rooks cawing away, they began swarming up
+the trunks, but in the midst of their frolic, when they were all
+struggling for the best places on the branches, they were startled by a
+shout, and looking up to the top of the down, saw a man on horseback
+coming towards them at a gallop, shaking a whip in anger as he rode.
+Instantly they began scrambling down, falling over each other in their
+haste, then, picking themselves up, set off down the slope as fast as
+they could run. Johnnie was foremost, while close behind him came Marty,
+who was nearly the same age and, though a girl, almost as swift-footed,
+but before going fifty yards she struck her foot against an ant-hill and
+was thrown violently, face down, on the turf. Johnnie turned at her cry
+and flew back to help her up, but the shock of the fall, and her extreme
+terror, had deprived her for the moment of all strength, and while he
+struggled to raise her, the smaller children, one by one, overtook and
+passed them, and in another moment the man was off his horse, standing
+over them.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want a good thrashing?" he said, grasping Johnnie by the collar.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir; please don't hit me!" answered Johnnie; then looking up he was
+astonished to see that his captor was not the stern old farmer, the
+tenant of the down, he had taken him for, but a stranger and a
+strange-looking man, in a dark grey cloak with a red collar. He had a
+pointed beard and long black hair and dark eyes that were not evil yet
+frightened Johnnie, when he caught them gazing down on him.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'll not thrash you," said he, "because you stayed to help the
+little maiden, but I'll tell you something for your good about the tree
+you and your little mates have been climbing, bruising the bark with
+your heels and breaking off leaves and twigs. Do you know, boy, that if
+you hurt it, it will hurt you? It stands fast here with its roots in the
+ground and you&mdash;you can go away from it, you think. 'Tis not so;
+something will come out of it and follow you wherever you go and hurt
+and break you at last. But if you make it a friend and care for it, it
+will care for you and give you happiness and deliver you from evil."</p>
+
+<p>Then touching Johnnie's cheeks with his gloved hand he got on his horse
+and rode away, and no sooner was he gone than Marty started up, and hand
+in hand the two children set off at a run down the long slope.</p>
+
+<p>Johnnie's playtime was nearly over then, for by and by he was taken as
+farmer's boy at one of the village farms. When he was nineteen years
+old, one Sunday evening, when standing in the road with other young
+people of the village, youths and girls, it was powerfully borne on his
+mind that his old playmate Marty was not only the prettiest and best
+girl in the place, but that she had something which set her apart and
+far, far above all other women. For now, after having known her
+intimately from his first years, he had suddenly fallen in love with
+her, a feeling which caused him to shiver in a kind of ecstasy, yet made
+him miserable, since it had purged his sight and made him see, too, how
+far apart they were and how hopeless his case. It was true they had been
+comrades from childhood, fond of each other, but she had grown and
+developed until she had become that most bright and lovely being, while
+he had remained the same slow-witted, awkward, almost inarticulate
+Johnnie he had always been. This feeling preyed on his poor mind, and
+when he joined the evening gathering in the village street he noted
+bitterly how contemptuously he was left out of the conversation by the
+others, how incapable he was of keeping pace with them in their laughing
+talk and banter. And, worst of all, how Marty was the leading spirit,
+bandying words and bestowing smiles and pleasantries all round, but
+never a word or a smile for him. He could not endure it, and so instead
+of smartening himself up after work and going for company to the village
+street, he would walk down the secluded lane near the farm to spend the
+hour before supper and bedtime sitting on a gate, brooding on his
+misery; and if by chance he met Marty in the village he would try to
+avoid her, and was silent and uncomfortable in her presence.</p>
+
+<p>After work, one hot summer evening, Johnnie was walking along the road
+near the farm in his working clothes, clay-coloured boots, and old dusty
+hat, when who should he see but Marty coming towards him, looking very
+sweet and fresh in her light-coloured print gown. He looked to this side
+and that for some friendly gap or opening in the hedge so as to take
+himself out of the road, but there was no way of escape at that spot,
+and he had to pass her, and so casting down his eyes he walked on,
+wishing he could sink into the earth out of her sight. But she would not
+allow him to pass; she put herself directly in his way and spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with 'ee, Johnnie, that 'ee don't want to meet me and
+hardly say a word when I speak to 'ee?"</p>
+
+<p>He could not find a word in reply; he stood still, his face crimson, his
+eyes on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Johnnie, dear, what is it?" she asked, coming closer and putting her
+hand on his arm.</p>
+
+<p>Then he looked up, and seeing the sweet compassion in her eyes, he could
+no longer keep the secret of his pain from her.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis 'ee, Marty," he said. "Thee'll never want I&mdash;there's others 'ee'll
+like better. 'Tisn't for I to say a word about that, I'm thinking, for I
+be&mdash;just nothing. An'&mdash;an'&mdash;I be going away from the village, Marty, and
+I'll never come back no more."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Johnnie, don't 'ee say it! Would 'ee go and break my heart? Don't
+'ee know I've always loved 'ee since we were little mites together?"</p>
+
+<p>And thus it came about that Johnnie, most miserable of men, was all at
+once made happy beyond his wildest dreams. And he proved himself worthy
+of her; from that time there was not a more diligent and sober young
+labourer in the village, nor one of a more cheerful disposition, nor
+more careful of his personal appearance when, the day's work done, the
+young people had their hour of social intercourse and courting. Yet he
+was able to put by a portion of his weekly wages of six shillings to buy
+sticks, so that when spring came round again he was able to marry and
+take Marty to live with him in his own cottage.</p>
+
+<p>One Sunday afternoon, shortly after this happy event, they went out for
+a walk on the high down.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Johnnie, 'tis a long time since we were here together, not since we
+used to come and play and look for cowslips when we were little."</p>
+
+<p>Johnnie laughed with pure joy and said they would just be children and
+play again, now they were alone and out of sight of the village; and
+when she smiled up at him he rejoiced to think that his union with this
+perfect girl was producing a happy effect on his poor brains, making him
+as bright and ready with a good reply as any one. And in their happiness
+they played at being children just as in the old days they had played at
+being grown-ups. Casting themselves down on the green, elastic,
+flower-sprinkled turf, they rolled one after the other down the smooth
+slopes of the terrace, the old "shepherd's steps," and by and by
+Johnnie, coming upon a patch of creeping thyme, rubbed his hands in the
+pale purple flowers, then rubbed her face to make it fragrant.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, 'tis sweet!" she cried. "Did 'ee ever see so many little flowers on
+the down?&mdash;'tis as if they came out just for us." Then, indicating the
+tiny milkwort faintly sprinkling the turf all about them, "Oh, the
+little blue darlings! Did 'ee ever see such a dear blue?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, aye, a prettier blue nor that," said Johnnie. "'Tis just here,
+Marty," and pressing her down he kissed her on the eyelids a dozen
+times.</p>
+
+<p>"You silly Johnnie!"</p>
+
+<p>"Be I silly, Marty? but I love the red too," and with that he kissed her
+on the mouth. "And, Marty, I do love the red on the breasties too&mdash;won't
+'ee let me have just one kiss there?"</p>
+
+<p>And she, to please him, opened her dress a little way, but blushingly,
+though she was his wife and nobody was there to see, but it seemed
+strange to her out of doors with the sun overhead. Oh, 'twas all
+delicious! Never was earth so heavenly sweet as on that wide green down,
+sprinkled with innumerable little flowers, under the wide blue sky and
+the all-illuminating sun that shone into their hearts!</p>
+
+<p>At length, rising to her knees and looking up the green slope, she cried
+out: "Oh, Johnnie, there's the old thorn tree! Do 'ee remember when we
+played at crows on it and had such a fright? 'Twas the last time we came
+here together. Come, let's go to the old tree and see how it looks now."</p>
+
+<p>Johnnie all at once became grave, and said No, he wouldn't go to it for
+anything. She was curious and made him tell her the reason. He had never
+forgotten that day and the fear that came into his mind on account of
+the words the strange man had spoken. She didn't know what the words
+were; she had been too frightened to listen, and so he had to tell her.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, 'tis a wishing-tree for sure," Marty exclaimed. When he asked her
+what a wishing-tree was, she could only say that her old grandmother,
+now dead, had told her. 'Tis a tree that knows us and can do us good and
+harm, but will do good only to some; but they must go to it and ask for
+its protection, and they must offer it something as well as pray to it.
+It must be something bright&mdash;a little jewel or coloured bead is best,
+and if you haven't got such a thing, a bright-coloured ribbon, or strip
+of scarlet cloth or silk thread&mdash;which you must tie to one of the twigs.</p>
+
+<p>"But we hurted the tree, Marty, and 'twill do no good to we."</p>
+
+<p>They were both grave now; then a hopeful thought came to her aid. They
+had not hurt the tree intentionally; the tree knew that&mdash;it knew more
+than any human being. They might go and stand side by side under its
+branches and ask it to forgive them, and grant them all their desires.
+But they must not go empty-handed, they must have some bright thing with
+them when making their prayer. Then she had a fresh inspiration. She
+would take a lock of her own bright hair, and braid it with some of his,
+and tie it with a piece of scarlet thread.</p>
+
+<p>Johnnie was pleased with this idea, and they agreed to take another
+Sunday afternoon walk and carry out their plan.</p>
+
+<p>The projected walk was never taken, for by and by Marty's mother fell
+ill, and Marty had to be with her, nursing her night and day. And months
+went by, and at length, when her mother died, she was not in a fit
+condition to go long walks and climb those long, steep slopes. After the
+child was born, it was harder than ever to leave the house, and Johnnie,
+too, had so much work at the farm that he had little inclination to go
+out on Sundays. They ceased to speak of the tree, and their
+long-projected pilgrimage was impracticable until they could see better
+days. But the wished time never came, for, after the first child, Marty
+was never strong. Then a second child came, then a third; and so five
+years went by, of toil and suffering and love, and the tree, with all
+their hopes and fears and intentions regarding it, was less and less in
+their minds, and was all but forgotten. Only Johnnie, when at long
+intervals his master sent him to Salisbury with the cart, remembered it
+all only too well when, coming to the top of the down, he saw the old
+thorn directly before him. Passing it, he would turn his face away not
+to see it too closely, or, perhaps, to avoid being recognised by it.
+Then came the time of their extreme poverty, when there was no work at
+the farm and no one of their own people to help tide them over a season
+of scarcity, for the old people were dead or in the workhouse or so poor
+as to want help themselves. It was then that, in his misery at the sight
+of his ailing anxious wife&mdash;the dear Marty of the beautiful vanished
+days&mdash;and his three little hungry children, that he went out into the
+field one dark night to get them food.</p>
+
+<p>The whole sad history was in his mind as they slowly crawled up the
+hill, until it came to him that perhaps all their sufferings and this
+great disaster had been caused by the tree&mdash;by that something from the
+tree which had followed him, never resting in its mysterious enmity
+until it broke him. Was it too late to repair that terrible mistake? A
+gleam of hope shone on his darkened mind, and he made his passionate
+appeal to the constable. He had no offering&mdash;his hands were powerless
+now; but at least he could stand by it and touch it with his body and
+face and pray for its forgiveness, and for deliverance from the doom
+which threatened him. The constable had compassionately, or from some
+secret motive, granted his request; but alas! if in very truth the power
+he had come to believe in resided in the tree, he was too late in
+seeking it.</p>
+
+<p>The trial was soon over; by pleading guilty Johnnie had made it a very
+simple matter for the court. The main thing was to sentence him. By an
+unhappy chance the judge was in one of his occasional bad moods; he had
+been entertained too well by one of the local magnates on the previous
+evening and had sat late, drinking too much wine, with the result that
+he had a bad liver, with a mind to match it. He was only too ready to
+seize the first opportunity that offered&mdash;and poor Johnnie's case was
+the first that morning&mdash;of exercising the awful power a barbarous law
+had put into his hands. When the prisoner's defender declared that this
+was a case which called loudly for mercy, the judge interrupted him to
+say that he was taking too much upon himself, that he was, in fact,
+instructing the judge in his duties, which was a piece of presumption on
+his part. The other was quick to make a humble apology and to bring his
+perfunctory address to a conclusion. The judge, in addressing the
+prisoner, said he had been unable to discover any extenuating
+circumstances in the case. The fact that he had a wife and family
+dependent on him only added to his turpitude, since it proved that no
+consideration could serve to deter him from a criminal act. Furthermore,
+in dealing with this case, he must take into account the prevalence of
+this particular form of crime; he would venture to say that it had been
+encouraged by an extreme leniency in many cases on the part of those
+whose sacred duty it was to administer the law of the land. A sterner
+and healthier spirit was called for at the present juncture. The time
+had come to make an example, and a more suitable case than the one now
+before him could not have been found for such a purpose. He would
+accordingly hold out no hope of a reprieve, but would counsel prisoner
+to make the best use of the short time remaining to him.</p>
+
+<p>Johnnie standing in the dock appeared to the spectators to be in a
+half-dazed condition&mdash;as dull and spiritless a clodhopper as they had
+ever beheld. The judge and barristers, in their wigs and robes and
+gowns, were unlike any human beings he had ever looked on. He might have
+been transported to some other world, so strange did the whole scene
+appear to him. He only knew, or surmised, that all these important
+people were occupied in doing him to death, but the process, the meaning
+of their fine phrases, he could not follow. He looked at them, his
+glazed eyes travelling from face to face, to be fixed finally on the
+judge, in a vacant stare; but he scarcely saw them, he was all the time
+gazing on, and his mind occupied with, other forms and scenes invisible
+to the court. His village, his Marty, his dear little playmate of long
+ago, the sweet girl he had won, the wife and mother of his children,
+with her white, terrified face, clinging to him and crying in anguish:
+"Oh, Johnnie, what will they do to 'ee?" And all the time, with it all,
+he saw the vast green slope of the down, with the Salisbury road lying
+like a narrow white band across it, and close to it, near the summit,
+the solitary old tree.</p>
+
+<p>During the delivery of the sentence, and when he was led from the dock
+and conveyed back to the prison, that image or vision was still present.
+He sat staring at the wall of his cell as he had stared at the judge,
+the fatal tree still before him. Never before had he seen it in that
+vivid way in which it appeared to him now, standing alone on the vast
+green down, under the wide sky, its four separate boles leaning a little
+way from each other, like the middle ribs of an open fan, holding up the
+widespread branches, the thin, open foliage, the green leaves stained
+with rusty brown and purple; and the ivy, rising like a slender black
+serpent of immense length, springing from the roots, winding upwards,
+and in and out, among the grey branches, binding them together, and
+resting its round, dark cluster of massed leaves on the topmost boughs.
+That green disc was the ivy-serpent's flat head and was the head of the
+whole tree, and there it had its eyes, which gazed for ever over the
+wide downs, watching all living things, cattle and sheep and birds and
+men in their comings and goings; and although fast-rooted in the earth,
+following them, too, in all their ways, even as it had followed him, to
+break him at last.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="POSTSCRIPT" id="POSTSCRIPT"></a>POSTSCRIPT</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="I3" id="I3"></a>I</h2>
+
+<h3>DEAD MAN'S PLACK</h3>
+
+
+<p>One of my literary friends, who has looked at the Dead Man's Plack in
+manuscript, has said by way of criticism that Elfrida's character is
+veiled. I am not to blame for that; for have I not already said, by
+implication at all events, in the Preamble, that my knowledge of her
+comes from outside. Something, or, more likely, <i>Somebody</i>, gave me her
+history, and it has occurred to me that this same Somebody was no such
+obscurity as, let us say, the Monk John of Glastonbury, who told the
+excavators just where to look for the buried chapel of Edgar, king and
+<i>saint</i>. I suspect that my informant was some one who knew more about
+Elfrida than any mere looker-on, monk or nun, and gossip-gatherer of her
+own distant day; and this suspicion or surmise was suggested by the
+following incident:</p>
+
+<p>After haunting Dead Man's Plack, where I had my vision, I rambled in and
+about Wherwell on account of its association, and in one of the cottages
+in the village I became acquainted with an elderly widow, a woman in
+feeble health, but singularly attractive in her person and manner.
+Indeed, before making her acquaintance I had been informed by some of
+her relations and others in the place that she was not only the best
+person to seek information from, but was also the sweetest person in the
+village. She was a native born; her family had lived there for
+generations, and she was of that best South Hampshire type with an oval
+face, olive-brown skin, black eyes and hair, and that soft melancholy
+expression in the eyes common in Spanish women and not uncommon in the
+dark-skinned Hampshire women. She had been taught at the village school,
+and having attracted the attention and interest of the great lady of the
+place on account of her intelligence and pleasing manners, she was taken
+when quite young as lady's-maid, and in this employment continued for
+many years until her marriage to a villager.</p>
+
+<p>One day, conversing with her, I said I had heard that the village was
+haunted by the ghost of a woman: was that true?</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it was true, she returned.</p>
+
+<p>Did she <i>know</i> that it was true? Had she actually seen the ghost?</p>
+
+<p>Yes, she had seen it once. One day, when she was lady's-maid, she was in
+her bedroom, dressing or doing something, with another maid. The door
+was closed, and they were in a merry mood, talking and laughing, when
+suddenly they both at the same moment saw a woman with a still, white
+face walking through the room. She was in the middle of the room when
+they caught sight of her, and they both screamed and covered their faces
+with their hands. So great was her terror that she almost fainted; then
+in a few moments when they looked the apparition had vanished. As to the
+habit she was wearing, neither of them could say afterwards what it was
+like: only the white, still face remained fixed in their memory, but the
+figure was a dark one, like a dark shadow moving rapidly through the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>If Elfrida then, albeit still in purgatory, is able to re-visit this
+scene of her early life and the site of that tragedy in the forest, it
+does not seem to me altogether improbable that she herself made the
+revelation I have written. And if this be so, it would account for the
+<i>veiled</i> character conveyed in the narrative. For even after ten
+centuries it may well be that all the coverings have not yet been
+removed, that although she has been dropping them one by one for ages,
+she has not yet come to the end of them. Until the very last covering,
+or veil, or mist is removed, it would be impossible for her to be
+absolutely sincere, to reveal her inmost soul with all that is most
+dreadful in it. But when that time comes, from the very moment of its
+coming she would cease automatically to be an exiled and tormented
+spirit.</p>
+
+<p>If, then, Elfrida is herself responsible for the narrative, it is only
+natural that she does not appear in it quite as black as she has been
+painted. For the monkish chronicler was, we know, the Father of Lies,
+and so indeed in a measure are all historians and biographers, since
+they cannot see into hearts and motives or know all the circumstances of
+the case. And in this case they were painting the picture of their hated
+enemy and no doubt were not sparing in the use of the black pigment.</p>
+
+<p>To know all is to forgive all, is a good saying, and enables us to see
+why even the worst among us can always find it possible to forgive
+himself.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="II3" id="II3"></a>II</h2>
+
+<h3>AN OLD THORN</h3>
+
+
+<p>I was pleased at this opportunity of rescuing this story from a far-back
+number of the <i>English Review</i>, in which it first appeared, and putting
+it in a book. It may be a shock to the reader to be brought down from a
+story of a great king and queen of England in the tenth century to the
+obscure annals of a yokel and his wife who lived in a Wiltshire village
+only a century ago; or even less, since my poor yokel was hanged for
+sheep-stealing in 1821. But it is, I think, worth preserving, since it
+is the only narrative I know of dealing with that rare and curious
+subject, the survival of tree-worship in our own country. That, however,
+was not the reason of my being pleased.</p>
+
+<p>It was just when I had finished writing the story of Elfrida that I
+happened to see in my morning paper a highly eulogistical paragraph
+about one of our long-dead and, I imagine, forgotten worthies. The
+occasion of the paragraph doesn't matter. The man eulogised was Mr.
+Justice Park&mdash;Sir James Allan Park, a highly successful barrister, who
+was judge from 1816 to his death in 1838. "As judge, though not eminent,
+he was sound, fair and sensible, a little irascible, but highly
+esteemed." He was also the author of a religious work. And that is all
+the particular Liar who wrote his biography in the D.N.B. can tell us
+about him.</p>
+
+<p>It was the newspaper paragraph which reminded me that I had written
+about this same judge, giving my estimate of his character in my book,
+<i>A Shepherd's Life</i>, also that I was <i>thinking</i> about Park, the sound
+and fair and sensible judge, when I wrote "An Old Thorn." Here then,
+with apologies to the reader for quoting from my own book, I reproduce
+what I wrote in 1905.</p>
+
+<p>"From these memories of the old villagers I turn to the newspapers of
+the day to make a few citations.</p>
+
+<p>"The law as it was did not distinguish between a case of the kind just
+related, of the starving, sorely-tempted Shergold, and that of the
+systematic thief: sheep-stealing was a capital offence and the man must
+be hanged, unless recommended to mercy, and we know what was meant by
+'mercy' in those days. That so barbarous a law existed within memory of
+people to be found living in most villages appears almost incredible to
+us; but despite the recommendations to 'mercy' usual in a large majority
+of cases, the law of that time was not more horrible than the temper of
+the men who administered it. There are good and bad among all, and in
+all professions, but there is also a black spot in most, possibly all
+hearts, which may be developed to almost any extent, to change the
+justest, wisest, most moral men into 'human devils.' In reading the old
+reports and the expressions used by the judges in their summings-up and
+sentences, it is impossible not to believe that the awful power they
+possessed, and its constant exercise, had not only produced the
+inevitable hardening effect, but had made them cruel in the true sense
+of the word. Their pleasure in passing dreadful sentences was very
+thinly disguised by certain lofty conventional phrases as to the
+necessity of upholding the law, morality, and religion; they were,
+indeed, as familiar with the name of the Deity as any ranter in a
+conventicle, and the 'enormity of the crime' was an expression as
+constantly used in the case of the theft of a loaf of bread, or of an
+old coat left hanging on a hedge, by some ill-clad, half-starved wretch,
+as in cases of burglary, arson, rape, and murder.</p>
+
+<p>"It is surprising to find how very few the real crimes were in those
+days, despite the misery of the people; that nearly all the 'crimes' for
+which men were sentenced to the gallows and to transportation for life,
+or for long terms, were offences which would now be sufficiently
+punished by a few weeks', or even a few days', imprisonment. Thus in
+April, 1825, I note that Mr. Justice Park commented on the heavy
+appearance of the calendar. It was not so much the number (170) of the
+offenders that excited his concern as it was the nature of the crimes
+with which they were charged. The worst crime in this instance was
+sheep-stealing!</p>
+
+<p>"Again, this same Mr. Justice Park, at the Spring Assizes at Salisbury,
+1827, said that though the calendar was a heavy one, he was happy to
+find, on looking at the depositions of the principal cases, that they
+were not of a very serious character. Nevertheless he passed sentence of
+death on twenty-eight persons, among them being one for stealing half a
+crown!</p>
+
+<p>"Of the twenty-eight all but three were eventually reprieved, one of the
+fated three being a youth of 19, who was charged with stealing a mare
+and pleaded guilty in spite of a warning from the judge not to do so.
+This irritated the great man who had the power of life and death in his
+hand. In passing sentence the judge 'expatiated on the prevalence of the
+crime of horse-stealing and the necessity of making an example. The
+enormity of Read's crime rendered him a proper example, and he would
+therefore hold out no hope of mercy towards him.' As to the plea of
+guilty, he remarked that nowadays too many persons pleaded guilty,
+deluded with the hope that it would be taken into consideration and they
+would escape the severer penalty. He was determined to put a stop to
+that sort of thing; if Read had not pleaded guilty no doubt some
+extenuating circumstance would have come up during the trial and he
+would have saved his life.</p>
+
+<p>"There, if ever, spoke the 'human devil' in a black cap!</p>
+
+<p>"I find another case of a sentence of transportation for life on a youth
+of 18, named Edward Baker, for stealing a pocket-handkerchief. Had he
+pleaded guilty it might have been worse for him.</p>
+
+<p>"At the Salisbury Spring Assizes, 1830, Mr. Justice Gazalee, addressing
+the grand jury, said that none of the crimes appeared to be marked with
+circumstances of great moral turpitude. The prisoners numbered 130; he
+passed sentences of death on twenty-nine, life transportations on five,
+fourteen years on five, seven years on eleven, and various terms of hard
+labour on the others." (<i>A Shepherd's Life</i>, pp. 241-4.)</p>
+
+<p>Johnnie Budd was done to death before my principal informants, one 89
+years old, the other 93, were born; but in their early years they knew
+the widow and her three children, and had known them and their children
+all their lives; thus the whole story of Johnnie and Marty was familiar
+to them. Now, when I thought of Johnnie's case and how he was treated at
+the trial, as it was told me by these old people, it struck me as so
+like that of the poor young man Read, who was hanged because he pleaded
+guilty, that I at once came to the belief that it was Mr. Justice Park
+who had tried him. I have accordingly searched the newspapers of that
+day, but have failed to find Johnnie's case. I can only suppose that
+this particular case was probably considered too unimportant to be
+reported at large in the newspapers of 1821. He was just one of a number
+convicted and sentenced to capital punishment.</p>
+
+<p>When Johnnie was hanged his poor wife travelled to Salisbury and
+succeeded in getting permission to take the body back to the village for
+burial. How she in her poverty, with her three little children to keep,
+managed it I don't know. Probably some of the other poor villagers who
+pitied and perhaps loved her helped her to do it. She did even more: she
+had a grave-stone set above him with his name and the dates of his birth
+and death cut on it. And there it is now, within a dozen yards of the
+church door in the small old churchyard&mdash;the smallest village churchyard
+known to me; and Johnnie's and Marty's children's children are still
+living in the village.</p>
+
+
+<p>FINIS</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_WORKS_OF_W_H_HUDSON" id="THE_WORKS_OF_W_H_HUDSON"></a>THE WORKS OF W. H. HUDSON</h2>
+
+
+
+<h3>BIRDS OF LA PLATA</h3>
+
+<p>With 22 Coloured Plates by <span class="smcap">H. Gronvold</span>, specially drawn under
+the Author's supervision.</p>
+
+<p>This book contains articles on some 200 birds of La Plata actually known
+to the Author, arranged under species, and characterised by that
+intimate personal touch which constitutes the chief charm of his
+writing. Originally published in 1888 under the title <i>Argentine
+Ornithology</i>, in collaboration with Philip Lutley Sclater, it has now
+been thoroughly revised by Mr. Hudson, who has deleted all except his
+own work, and has written a new Introduction of considerable length.</p>
+
+<p>The coloured plates of this new book have been done by Mr. H. Gronvold,
+under the most careful supervision of the Author, whose intimate
+knowledge of the birds in their life and true environment has helped the
+artist to give a vivid and faithful presentment of the different
+species.</p>
+
+<p>The illustrations constitute an integral part of the book itself, and
+are not mere decorative additions. This book now forms a companion
+volume to another work of Mr. Hudson's, <i>The Naturalist in La Plata</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h3>THE NATURALIST IN LA PLATA</h3>
+<h4>A COMPANION VOLUME</h4>
+
+
+<p><i>The Naturalist in La Plata</i> can now be obtained in a new and cheaper
+edition than the original, which was first published in 1892. The
+letterpress and the drawings in the text by J. Smit have been left as
+they were; the only change is in the form of the book and in the
+substitution of new plates for the old ones. This book forms a companion
+volume to <i>Birds of La Plata</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>FAR AWAY AND LONG AGO</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">An Autobiographical Sketch of the Writer's Boyhood</span></h4>
+
+<p>"To read his book is to read another chapter in that enormous book which
+is written from time to time by Rousseau and George Sand and Aksakoff
+among other people&mdash;a book which we can never read enough of; and
+therefore we must beg Mr. Hudson not to stop here, but to carry the
+story on to the farthest possible limits."&mdash;<i>Times Literary Supplement.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A low-pitched narrative, but once listened to it is as enthralling as
+Mr. Hudson found the voice of the golden plover."&mdash;<i>Athen&aelig;um.</i></p>
+
+<p>"He who does not know the work of W. H. Hudson is missing one of the
+finest pleasures of contemporary literature."&mdash;<i>Daily News.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Regarding the author hitherto primarily as a naturalist we rediscover
+him as an acute psychologist.... For many readers the chief interest of
+the book will lie in the charming reflective presentment of the thoughts
+of a boy's mind."&mdash;<i>Bookman.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE</h3>
+
+<p>With 8 Coloured Plates after E. J. <span class="smcap">Detmold</span></p>
+
+<p>Head and Tail Pieces by <span class="smcap">Herbert Cole</span></p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Hudson loves all birds; they are his work, his recreation, his
+life; he writes about them as no one else can: he sees what others
+miss."&mdash;<i>Manchester Guardian.</i></p>
+
+<p>"This book is full of his unsurpassed perception and unique
+charm.... Some of his best passages about birds are equally delightful
+and vivid sketches of human life."&mdash;<i>Times Literary Supplement.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Hudson is more than a naturalist. He is a man of genius who
+transmutes lead into gold&mdash;the lead of knowledge into the gold of
+feeling.... As you hear the music of his prose ... you recapture
+the delicious tenderness of childhood with its wistful wonder and
+vision.... Mr. Hudson is a nightingale naturalist with a voice that
+throbs in waves of magical melody."</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;<span class="smcap">James Douglas</span> in <i>The Star</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn, by 
+William Henry Hudson
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn, by
+William Henry Hudson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn
+
+Author: William Henry Hudson
+
+Release Date: November 1, 2006 [EBook #19691]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEAD MAN'S PLACK AND AN OLD THORN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Susan Skinner, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: DEAD MAN'S PLACK.]
+
+
+
+
+DEAD MAN'S PLACK
+
+AND
+
+AN OLD THORN
+
+BY W. H. HUDSON
+
+1920
+LONDON & TORONTO
+J. M. DENT & SONS LTD.
+New York: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+DEAD MAN'S PLACK:
+
+Preamble
+
+Chapter
+
+I.
+
+II.
+
+III.
+
+IV.
+
+V.
+
+VI.
+
+VII.
+
+VIII.
+
+IX.
+
+X.
+
+XI.
+
+XII.
+
+
+AN OLD THORN:
+
+Chapter
+
+I.
+
+II.
+
+III.
+
+
+POSTSCRIPT
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+DEAD MAN'S PLACK
+
+HAWTHORN AND IVY, NEAR THE GREAT RIDGE WOOD
+
+
+
+
+DEAD MAN'S PLACK
+
+
+
+
+PREAMBLE
+
+
+"The insect tribes of human kind" is a mode of expression we are
+familiar with in the poets, moralists and other superior persons, or
+beings, who viewing mankind from their own vast elevation see us all
+more or less of one size and very, very small. No doubt the comparison
+dates back to early, probably Pliocene, times, when some one climbed to
+the summit of a very tall cliff, and looking down and seeing his fellows
+so diminished in size as to resemble insects, not so gross as beetles
+perhaps but rather like emmets, he laughed in the way they laughed then
+at the enormous difference between his stature and theirs. Hence the
+time-honoured and serviceable metaphor.
+
+Now with me, in this particular instance, it was all the other way
+about--from insect to man--seeing that it was when occupied in watching
+the small comedies and tragedies of the insect world on its stage that I
+stumbled by chance upon a compelling reminder of one of the greatest
+tragedies in England's history--greatest, that is to say, in its
+consequences. And this is how it happened.
+
+One summer day, prowling in an extensive oak wood, in Hampshire, known
+as Harewood Forest, I discovered that it counted among its inhabitants
+no fewer than three species of insects of peculiar interest to me, and
+from that time I haunted it, going there day after day to spend long
+hours in pursuit of my small quarry. Not to kill and preserve their
+diminutive corpses in a cabinet, but solely to witness the comedy of
+their brilliant little lives. And as I used to take my luncheon in my
+pocket I fell into the habit of going to a particular spot, some opening
+in the dense wood with a big tree to lean against and give me shade,
+where after refreshing myself with food and drink I could smoke my pipe
+in solitude and peace. Eventually I came to prefer one spot for my
+midday rest in the central part of the wood, where a stone cross,
+slender, beautifully proportioned and about eighteen feet high, had been
+erected some seventy or eighty years before by the lord of the manor. On
+one side of the great stone block on which the cross stood there was an
+inscription which told that it was placed there to mark the spot known
+from of old as Dead Man's Plack; that, according to tradition, handed
+from father to son, it was just here that King Edgar slew his friend and
+favourite Earl Athelwold, when hunting in the forest.
+
+I had sat there on many occasions, and had glanced from time to time at
+the inscription cut on the stone, once actually reading it, without
+having my attention drawn away from the insect world I was living in. It
+was not the tradition of the Saxon king nor the beauty of the cross in
+that green wilderness which drew me daily to the spot, but its
+solitariness and the little open space where I could sit in the shade
+and have my rest.
+
+Then something happened. Some friends from town came down to me at the
+hamlet I was staying at, and one of the party, the mother of most of
+them, was not only older than the rest of us in years, but also in
+knowledge and wisdom; and at the same time she was younger than the
+youngest of us, since she had the curious mind, the undying interest in
+everything on earth--the secret, in fact, of everlasting youth.
+Naturally, being of this temperament, she wanted to know what I was
+doing and all about what I had seen, even to the minutest detail--the
+smallest insect--and in telling her of my days I spoke casually of the
+cross placed at a spot called Dead Man's Plack. This at once reminded
+her of something she had heard about it before, but long ago, in the
+seventies of last century; then presently it all came back to her, and
+it proved to me an interesting story.
+
+It chanced that in that far back time she was in correspondence on
+certain scientific and literary subjects with a gentleman who was a
+native of this part of Hampshire in which we were staying, and that they
+got into a discussion about Freeman, the historian, during which he told
+her of an incident of his undergraduate days when Freeman was professor
+at Oxford. He attended a lecture by that man on the Mythical and
+Romantic Elements in Early English History, in which he stated for the
+guidance of all who study the past, that they must always bear in mind
+the inevitable passion for romance in men, especially the uneducated,
+and that when the student comes upon a romantic incident in early
+history, even when it accords with the known character of the person it
+relates to, he must reject it as false. Then, to rub the lesson in, he
+gave an account of the most flagrant of the romantic lies contained in
+the history of the Saxon kings. This was the story of King Edgar, and
+how his favourite, Earl Athelwold, deceived him as to the reputed beauty
+of Elfrida, and how Edgar in revenge slew Athelwold with his own hand
+when hunting. Then--to show how false it all was!--Edgar, the chronicles
+state, was at Salisbury and rode in one day to Harewood Forest and there
+slew Athelwold. Now, said Freeman, as Harewood Forest is in Yorkshire,
+Edgar could not have ridden there from Salisbury in one day, nor in two,
+nor in three, which was enough to show that the whole story was a
+fabrication.
+
+The undergraduate, listening to the lecturer, thought the Professor was
+wrong owing to his ignorance of the fact that the Harewood Forest in
+which the deed was done was in Hampshire, within a day's ride from
+Salisbury, and that local tradition points to the very spot in the
+forest where Athelwold was slain. Accordingly he wrote to the Professor
+and gave him these facts. His letter was not answered; and the poor
+youth felt hurt, as he thought he was doing Professor Freeman a service
+by telling him something he didn't know. _He_ didn't know his Professor
+Freeman.
+
+This story about Freeman tickled me, because I dislike him, but if any
+one were to ask me why I dislike him I should probably have to answer
+like a woman: Because I do. Or if stretched on the rack until I could
+find or invent a better reason I should perhaps say it was because he
+was so infernally cock-sure, so convinced that he and he alone had the
+power of distinguishing between the true and false; also that he was so
+arbitrary and arrogant and ready to trample on those who doubted his
+infallibility.
+
+All this, I confess, would not be much to say against him, seeing that
+it is nothing but the ordinary professorial or academic mind, and I
+suppose that the only difference between Freeman and the ruck of the
+professors was that he was more impulsive or articulate and had a
+greater facility in expressing his scorn.
+
+Here I may mention in passing that when this lecture appeared in print
+in his _Historical Essays_ he had evidently been put out a little, and
+also put on his mettle by that letter from an undergraduate, and had
+gone more deeply into the documents relating to the incident, seeing
+that he now relied mainly on the discrepancies in half a dozen
+chronicles he was able to point out to prove its falsity. His former
+main argument now appeared as a "small matter of detail"--a "confusion
+of geography" in the different versions of the old historians. But one
+tells us, Freeman writes, that Athelwold was killed in the Forest of
+Wherwell on his way to York, and then he says: "Now as Wherwell is in
+Hampshire, it could not be on the road to York;" and further on he says:
+"Now Harewood Forest in Yorkshire is certainly not the same as Wherwell
+in Hampshire," and so on, and on, and on, but always careful not to say
+that Wherwell Forest and Harewood Forest are two names for one and the
+same place, although now the name of Wherwell is confined to the village
+on the Test, where it is supposed Athelwold had his castle and lived
+with his wife before he was killed, and where Elfrida in her declining
+years, when trying to make her peace with God, came and built a Priory
+and took the habit herself and there finished her darkened life.
+
+This then was how he juggled with words and documents and chronicles
+(his thimble-rigging), making a truth a lie or a lie a truth according
+as it suited a froward and prejudicate mind, to quote the expression of
+an older and simpler-minded historian--Sir Walter Raleigh.
+
+Finally, to wind up the whole controversy, he says you are to take it as
+a positive truth that Edgar married Elfrida, and a positive falsehood
+that Edgar killed Athelwold. Why--seeing there is as good authority and
+reason for believing the one statement as the other? A foolish question!
+Why?--Because I, Professor or Pope Freeman, say so!
+
+The main thing here is the effect the Freeman anecdote had on me, which
+was that when I went back to continue my insect-watching and rested at
+noon at Dead Man's Plack, the old legend would keep intruding itself on
+my mind, until, wishing to have done with it, I said and I swore that it
+was true--that the tradition preserved in the neighbourhood, that on
+this very spot Athelwold was slain by the king, was better than any
+document or history. It was an act which had been witnessed by many
+persons, and the memory of it preserved and handed down from father to
+son for thirty generations; for it must be borne in mind that the
+inhabitants of this district of Andover and the villages on the Test
+have never in the last thousand years been exterminated or expelled. And
+ten centuries is not so long for an event of so startling a character to
+persist in the memory of the people when we consider that such
+traditions have come down to us even from prehistoric times and have
+proved true. Our archaeologists, for example, after long study of the
+remains, cannot tell us how long ago--centuries or thousands of years--a
+warrior with golden armour was buried under the great cairn at Mold in
+Flintshire.
+
+And now the curious part of all this matter comes in. Having taken my
+side in the controversy and made my pronouncement, I found that I was
+not yet free of it. It remained with me, but in a new way--not as an old
+story in old books, but as an event, or series of events, now being
+re-enacted before my very eyes. I actually saw and heard it all, from
+the very beginning to the dreadful end; and this is what I am now going
+to relate. But whether or not I shall in my relation be in close accord
+with what history tells us I know not, nor does it matter in the least.
+For just as the religious mystic is exempt from the study of theology
+and the whole body of religious doctrine, and from all the observances
+necessary to those who in fear and trembling are seeking their
+salvation, even so those who have been brought to the _Gate of
+Remembrance_ are independent of written documents, chronicles and
+histories, and of the weary task of separating the false from the true.
+They have better sources of information. For I am not so vain as to
+imagine for one moment that without such external aid I am able to make
+shadows breathe, revive the dead, and know what silent mouths once said.
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+When, sitting at noon in the shade of an oak tree at Dead Man's Plack, I
+beheld Edgar, I almost ceased to wonder at the miracle that had happened
+in this war-mad, desolated England, where Saxon and Dane, like two
+infuriated bull-dogs, were everlastingly at grips, striving to tear each
+other's throats out, and deluging the country with blood; how, ceasing
+from their strife, they had all at once agreed to live in peace and
+unity side by side under the young king; and this seemingly unnatural
+state of things endured even to the end of his life, on which account he
+was called Edgar the Peaceful.
+
+He was beautiful in person and had infinite charm, and these gifts,
+together with his kingly qualities, which have won the admiration of all
+men of all ages, endeared him to his people. He was but thirteen when he
+came to be king of united England, and small for his age, but even in
+these terrible times he was remarkable for his courage, both physical
+and moral. Withal he had a subtle mind; indeed, I think he surpassed all
+our kings of the past thousand years in combining so many excellent
+qualities. His was the wisdom of the serpent combined with the
+gentleness--I will not say of the dove, but rather of the cat, our
+little tiger on the hearthrug, the most beautiful of four-footed things,
+so lithe, so soft, of so affectionate a disposition, yet capable when
+suddenly roused to anger of striking with lightning rapidity and rending
+the offender's flesh with its cruel, unsheathed claws.
+
+Consider the line he took, even as a boy! He recognised among all those
+who surrounded him, in his priestly adviser, the one man of so great a
+mind as to be capable of assisting him effectually in ruling so divided,
+war-loving and revengeful a people, and he allowed him practically
+unlimited power to do as he liked. He went even further by pretending to
+fall in with Dunstan's ambitions of purging the Church of the order of
+priests or half-priests, or canons, who were in possession of most of
+the religious houses in England, and were priests that married wives and
+owned lands and had great power. Against this monstrous state of things
+Edgar rose up in his simulated wrath and cried out to Archbishop Dunstan
+in a speech he delivered to sweep them away and purify the Church and
+country from such a scandal!
+
+But Edgar himself had a volcanic heart, and to witness it in full
+eruption it was only necessary to convey to him the tidings of some
+woman of a rare loveliness; and have her he would, in spite of all laws
+human and divine. Thus when inflamed with passion for a beautiful nun he
+did not hesitate to smash the gates of a convent to drag her forth and
+forcibly make her his mistress. And this too was a dreadful scandal, but
+no great pother could be made about it, seeing that Edgar was so
+powerful a friend of the Church and of pure religion.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Now all the foregoing is contained in the histories, but in what follows
+I have for sole light and guide the vision that came to me at Dead Man's
+Plack, and have only to add to this introductory note that Edgar at the
+early age of twenty-two was a widower, having already had to wife
+Ethelfled the Fair, who was famous for her beauty, and who died shortly
+after giving birth to a child who lived to figure later in history as
+one of England's many Edwards.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+Now although King Edgar had dearly loved his wife, who was also beloved
+by all his people on account of her sweet and gentle disposition as well
+as of her exceeding beauty, it was not in his nature to brood long over
+such a loss. He had too keen a zest for life and the many interests and
+pleasures it had for him ever to become a melancholy man. It was a
+delight to him to be king, and to perform all kingly duties and offices.
+Also he was happy in his friends, especially in his favourite, the Earl
+Athelwold, who was like him in character, a man after his own heart.
+They were indeed like brothers, and some of those who surrounded the
+king were not too well pleased to witness this close intimacy. Both were
+handsome men, witty, of a genial disposition, yet under a light careless
+manner brave and ardent, devoted to the pleasure of the chase and all
+other pleasures, especially to those bestowed by golden Aphrodite, their
+chosen saint, albeit her name did not figure in the Calendar.
+
+Hence it was not strange, when certain reports of the wonderful beauty
+of a woman in the West Country were brought to Edgar's ears that his
+heart began to burn within him, and that by and by he opened himself to
+his friend on the subject. He told Athelwold that he had discovered the
+one woman in England fit to be Ethelfled's successor, and that he had
+resolved to make her his queen although he had never seen her, since she
+and her father had never been to court. That, however, would not deter
+him; there was no other woman in the land whose claims were equal to
+hers, seeing that she was the only daughter and part heiress of one of
+the greatest men in the kingdom, Ongar, Earldoman of Devon and Somerset,
+a man of vast possessions and great power. Yet all that was of less
+account to him than her fame, her personal worth, since she was reputed
+to be the most beautiful woman in the land. It was for her beauty that
+he desired her, and being of an exceedingly impatient temper in any case
+in which beauty in a woman was concerned, he desired his friend to
+proceed at once to Earl Ongar in Devon with an offer of marriage to his
+daughter, Elfrida, from the king.
+
+Athelwold laughed at Edgar in this his most solemn and kingly mood, and
+with a friend's privilege told him not to be so simple as to buy a pig
+in a poke. The lady, he said, had not been to court, consequently she
+had not been seen by those best able to judge of her reputed beauty. Her
+fame rested wholly on the report of the people of her own country, who
+were great as every one knew at blowing their own trumpets. Their red
+and green county was England's paradise; their men the bravest and
+handsomest and their women the most beautiful in the land. For his part
+he believed there were as good men and as fair women in Mercia and East
+Anglia as in the West. It would certainly be an awkward business if the
+king found himself bound in honour to wed with a person he did not like.
+Awkward because of her father's fierce pride and power. A better plan
+would be to send some one he could trust not to make a mistake to find
+out the truth of the report.
+
+Edgar was pleased at his friend's wise caution, and praised him for his
+candour, which was that of a true friend, and as he was the only man he
+could thoroughly trust in such a matter he would send him. Accordingly,
+Athelwold, still much amused at Edgar's sudden wish to make an offer of
+marriage to a woman he had never seen, set out on his journey in great
+state with many attendants as befitted his person and his mission, which
+was ostensibly to bear greetings and loving messages from the king to
+some of his most important subjects in the West Country.
+
+In this way he travelled through Wilts, Somerset and Devon, and in due
+time arrived at Earl Ongar's castle on the Exe.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+Athelwold, who thought highly of himself, had undertaken his mission
+with a light heart, but now when his progress in the West had brought
+him to the great earldoman's castle it was borne in on him that he had
+put himself in a very responsible position. He was here to look at this
+woman with cold, critical eyes, which was easy enough; and having looked
+at and measured and weighed her, he would make a true report to Edgar;
+that too would be easy for him, since all his power and happiness in
+life depended on the king's continual favour. But Ongar stood between
+him and the woman he had come to see and take stock of with that clear
+unbiassed judgment which he could safely rely on. And Ongar was a proud
+and stern old man, jealous of his great position, who had not hesitated
+to say on Edgar's accession to the kingship, knowing well that his words
+would be reported in due time, that he refused to be one of the crowd
+who came flocking from all over the land to pay homage to a boy. It thus
+came about that neither then nor at any subsequent period had there been
+any personal relations between the king and this English subject, who
+was prouder than all the Welsh kings who had rushed at Edgar's call to
+make their submission.
+
+But now when Ongar had been informed that the king's intimate friend and
+confidant was on his way to him with greetings and loving messages from
+Edgar, he was flattered, and resolved to receive him in a friendly and
+loyal spirit and do him all the honour in his power. For Edgar was no
+longer a boy: he was king over all this hitherto turbulent realm, East
+and West from sea to sea and from the Land's End to the Tweed, and the
+strange enduring peace of the times was a proof of his power.
+
+It thus came to pass that Athelwold's mission was made smooth to him,
+and when they met and conversed, the fierce old Earl was so well pleased
+with his visitor, that all trace of the sullen hostility he had
+cherished towards the court passed away like the shadow of a cloud. And
+later, in the banqueting-room, Athelwold came face to face with the
+woman he had come to look at with cold, critical eyes, like one who
+examines a horse in the interests of a friend who desires to become its
+purchaser.
+
+Down to that fatal moment the one desire of his heart was to serve his
+friend faithfully in this delicate business. Now, the first sight of
+her, the first touch of her hand, wrought a change in him, and all
+thought of Edgar and of the purpose of his visit vanished out of his
+mind. Even he, one of the great nobles of his time, the accomplished
+courtier and life of the court, stood silent like a person spell-bound
+before this woman who had been to no court, but had lived always with
+that sullen old man in comparative seclusion in a remote province. It
+was not only the beautiful dignity and graciousness with which she
+received him, with the exquisite beauty in the lines and colour of her
+face, and her hair which, if unloosed, would have covered her to the
+knees as with a splendid mantle. That hair of a colour comparable only
+to that of the sweet gale when that sweet plant is in its golden withy
+or catkin stage in the month of May, and is clothed with catkins as with
+a foliage of a deep shining red gold, that seems not a colour of earth
+but rather one distilled from the sun itself. Nor was it the colour of
+her eyes, the deep pure blue of the lungwort, that blue loveliness seen
+in no other flower on earth. Rather it was the light from her eyes which
+was like lightning that pierced and startled him; for that light, that
+expression, was a living spirit looking through his eyes into the depths
+of his soul, knowing all its strength and weakness, and in the same
+instant resolving to make it her own and have dominion over it.
+
+It was only when he had escaped from the power and magic of her
+presence, when alone in his sleeping room, that reflection came to him
+and the recollection of Edgar and of his mission. And there was dismay
+in the thought. For the woman was his, part and parcel of his heart and
+soul and life; for that was what her lightning glance had said to him,
+and she could not be given to another. No, not to the king! Had any man,
+any friend, ever been placed in so terrible a position? Honour? Loyalty?
+To whichever side he inclined he could not escape the crime, the base
+betrayal and abandonment! But loyalty to the king would be the greater
+crime. Had not Edgar himself broken every law of God and man to gratify
+his passion for a woman? Not a woman like this! Never would Edgar look
+on her until he, Athelwold, had obeyed her and his own heart and made
+her his for ever! And what would come then! He would not consider it--he
+would perish rather than yield her to another!
+
+That was how the question came before him, and how it was settled,
+during the long sleepless hours when his blood was in a fever and his
+brain on fire; but when day dawned and his blood grew cold and his brain
+was tired, the image of Edgar betrayed and in a deadly rage became
+insistent, and he rose desponding and in dread of the meeting to come.
+And no sooner did he meet her than she overcame him as on the previous
+day; and so it continued during the whole period of his visit, racked
+with passion, drawn now to this side, now to that, and when he was most
+resolved to have her then most furiously assaulted by loyalty, by
+friendship, by honour, and he was like a stag at bay fighting for his
+life against the hounds. And every time he met her--and the passionate
+words he dared not speak were like confined fire, burning him up
+inwardly--seeing him pale and troubled she would greet him with a smile
+and look which told him she knew that he was troubled in heart, that a
+great conflict was raging in him, also that it was on her account and
+was perhaps because he had already bound himself to some other woman,
+some great lady of the land; and now this new passion had come to him.
+And her smile and look were like the world-irradiating sun when it
+rises, and the black menacing cloud that brooded over his soul would
+fade and vanish, and he knew that she had again claimed him and that he
+was hers.
+
+So it continued till the very moment of parting, and again as on their
+first meeting he stood silent and troubled before her; then in faltering
+words told her that the thought of her would travel and be with him;
+that in a little while, perhaps in a month or two, he would be rid of a
+great matter which had been weighing heavily on his mind, and once free
+he could return to Devon, if she would consent to his paying her another
+visit.
+
+She replied smilingly with gracious words, with no change from that
+exquisite perfect dignity which was always hers; nor tremor in her
+speech, but only that understanding look from her eyes, which said: Yes,
+you shall come back to me in good time, when you have smoothed the way,
+to claim me for your own.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+On Athelwold's return the king embraced him warmly, and was quick to
+observe a change in him--the thinner, paler face and appearance
+generally of one lately recovered from a grievous illness or who had
+been troubled in mind. Athelwold explained that it had been a painful
+visit to him, due in the first place to the anxiety he experienced of
+being placed in so responsible a position, and in the second place the
+misery it was to him to be the guest for many days of such a person as
+the earldoman, a man of a rough, harsh aspect and manner, who daily made
+himself drunk at table, after which he would grow intolerably garrulous
+and boastful. Then, when his host had been carried to bed by his
+servants, his own wakeful, troubled hours would begin. For at first he
+had been struck by the woman's fine, handsome presence, albeit she was
+not the peerless beauty she had been reported; but when he had seen her
+often and more closely and had conversed with her he had been
+disappointed. There was something lacking; she had not the softness, the
+charm, desirable in a woman; she had something of her parent's
+harshness, and his final judgment was that she was not a suitable person
+for the king to marry.
+
+Edgar was a little cast down at first, but quickly recovering his genial
+manner, thanked his friend for having served him so well.
+
+For several weeks following the king and the king's favourite were
+constantly together; and during that period Athelwold developed a
+peculiar sweetness and affection towards Edgar, often recalling to him
+their happy boyhood's days in East Anglia, when they were like brothers,
+and cemented the close friendship which was to last them for the whole
+of their lives. Finally, when it seemed to his watchful, crafty mind
+that Edgar had cast the whole subject of his wish to marry Elfrida into
+oblivion, and that the time was now ripe for carrying out his own
+scheme, he reopened the subject, and said that although the lady was not
+a suitable person to be the king's wife it would be good policy on his,
+Athelwold's, part, to win her on account of her position as only
+daughter and part heiress of Ongar, who had great power and possessions
+in the West. But he would not move in the matter without Edgar's
+consent.
+
+Edgar, ever ready to do anything to please his friend, freely gave it,
+and only asked him to give an assurance that the secret object of his
+former visit to Devon would remain inviolate. Accordingly Athelwold took
+a solemn oath that it would never be revealed, and Edgar then slapped
+him on the back and wished him Godspeed in his wooing.
+
+Very soon after thus smoothing the way, Athelwold returned to Devon, and
+was once more in the presence of the woman who had so enchanted him,
+with that same meaning smile on her lips and light in her eyes which had
+been her good-bye and her greeting, only now it said to him: You have
+returned as I knew you would, and I am ready to give myself to you.
+
+From every point of view it was a suitable union, seeing that Athelwold
+would inherit power and great possessions from his father, Earldoman of
+East Anglia, and before long the marriage took place, and by and by
+Athelwold took his wife to Wessex, to the castle he had built for
+himself on his estate of Wherwell, on the Test. There they lived
+together, and as they had married for love they were happy.
+
+But as the king's intimate friend and the companion of many of his
+frequent journeys he could not always bide with her nor be with her for
+any great length of time. For Edgar had a restless spirit and was
+exceedingly vigilant, and liked to keep a watchful eye on the different
+lately hostile nations of Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria, so that
+his journeys were frequent and long to these distant parts of his
+kingdom. And he also had his naval forces to inspect at frequent
+intervals. Thus it came about that he was often absent from her for
+weeks and months at a stretch. And so the time went on, and during these
+long absences a change would come over Elfrida; the lovely colour, the
+enchanting smile, the light of her eyes--the outward sign of an intense
+brilliant life--would fade, and with eyes cast down she would pace the
+floors or the paths or sit brooding in silence by the hour.
+
+Of all this Athelwold knew nothing, since she made no complaint, and
+when he returned to her the light and life and brilliance would be hers
+again, and there was no cloud or shadow on his delight. But the cloud
+would come back over her when he again went away. Her only relief in her
+condition was to sit before a fire or when out of doors to seat herself
+on the bank of the stream and watch the current. For although it was
+still summer, the month being August, she would have a fire of logs
+lighted in a large chamber and sit staring at the flames by the hour,
+and sometimes holding her outstretched hands before the flames until
+they were hot, she would then press them to her lips. Or when the day
+was warm and bright she would be out of doors and spend hours by the
+river gazing at the swift crystal current below as if fascinated by the
+sight of the running water. It is a marvellously clear water, so that
+looking down on it you can see the rounded pebbles in all their various
+colours and markings lying at the bottom, and if there should be a trout
+lying there facing the current and slowly waving his tail from side to
+side, you could count the red spots on his side, so clear is the water.
+Even more did the floating water-grass hold her gaze--that bright green
+grass that, rooted in the bed of the stream, sends its thin blades to
+the surface where they float and wave like green floating hair.
+Stooping, she would dip a hand in the stream and watch the bright clear
+water running through the fingers of her white hand, then press the hand
+to her lips.
+
+Then again when day declined she would quit the stream to sit before the
+blazing logs, staring at the flames. What am I doing here? she would
+murmur. And what is this my life? When I was at home in Devon I had a
+dream of Winchester, of Salisbury, or other great towns further away,
+where the men and women who are great in the land meet together, and
+where my eyes would perchance sometimes have the happiness to behold the
+king himself--my husband's close friend and companion. My waking has
+brought a different scene before me; this castle in the wilderness, a
+solitude where from an upper window I look upon leagues of forest, a
+haunt of wild animals. I see great birds soaring in the sky and listen
+to the shrill screams of kite and buzzard; and sometimes when lying
+awake on a still night the distant long howl of a wolf. Also, it is
+said, there are great stags, and roe-deer, and wild boars, and it is
+Athelwold's joy to hunt them and slay them with his spear. A joy too
+when he returns from the hunt or from a long absence to play with his
+beautiful wife--his caged bird of pretty feathers and a sweet song to
+soothe him when he is tired. But of his life at court he tells me
+little, and of even that little I doubt the truth. Then he leaves me and
+I am alone with his retainers--the crowd of serving men and women and
+the armed men to safeguard me. I am alone with my two friends which I
+have found, one out of doors, the other in--the river which runs at the
+bottom of the ground where I take my walks, and the fire I sit before.
+The two friends, companions, and lovers to whom all the secrets of my
+soul are confided. I love them, having no other in the world to love,
+and here I hold my hands before the flames until it is hot and then kiss
+the heat, and by the stream I kiss my wetted hands. And if I were to
+remain here until this life became unendurable I should consider as to
+which one of these two lovers I should give myself. This one I think is
+too ardent in his love--it would be terrible to be wrapped round in his
+fiery arms and feel his fiery mouth on mine. I should rather go to the
+other one to lie down on his pebbly bed, and give myself to him to hold
+me in his cool, shining arms and mix his green hair with my loosened
+hair. But my wish is to live and not die. Let me then wait a little
+longer; let me watch and listen, and perhaps some day, by and by, from
+his own lips, I shall capture the secret of this my caged solitary life.
+
+And the very next day Athelwold, having just returned with the king to
+Salisbury, was once more with her; and the brooding cloud had vanished
+from her life and countenance; she was once more his passionate bride,
+lavishing caresses on him, listening with childish delight to every word
+that fell from his lips, and desiring no other life and no greater
+happiness than this.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+It was early September, and the king with some of the nobles who were
+with him, after hunting the deer over against Cranbourne, returned at
+evening to Salisbury, and after meat with some of his intimates they sat
+late drinking wine and fell into a merry, boisterous mood. They spoke of
+Athelwold, who was not with them, and indulged in some mocking remarks
+about his frequent and prolonged absences from the king's company. Edgar
+took it in good part and smilingly replied that it had been reported to
+him that the earl was now wedded to a woman with a will. Also he knew
+that her father, the great Earldoman of Devon, had been famed for his
+tremendous physical strength. It was related of him that he had once
+been charged by a furious bull, that he had calmly waited the onset and
+had dealt the animal a staggering blow with his fist on its head and had
+then taken it up in his arms and hurled it into the river Exe. If, he
+concluded, the daughter had inherited something of this power it was not
+to be wondered at that she was able to detain her husband at home.
+
+Loud laughter followed this pleasantry of the king's, then one of the
+company remarked that not a woman's will, though it might be like steel
+of the finest temper, nor her muscular power, would serve to change
+Athelwold's nature or keep him from his friend, but only a woman's
+exceeding beauty.
+
+Then Edgar, seeing that he had been put upon the defence of his absent
+friend, and that all of them were eager to hear his next word, replied
+that there was no possession a man was prouder of than that of a
+beautiful wife; that it was more to him than his own best qualities, his
+greatest actions, or than titles and lands and gold. If Athelwold had
+indeed been so happy as to secure the most beautiful woman he would have
+been glad to bring her to court to exhibit her to all--friends and foes
+alike--for his own satisfaction and glory.
+
+Again they greeted his speech with laughter, and one cried out: Do you
+believe it?
+
+Then another, bolder still, exclaimed: It's God's truth that she is the
+fairest woman in the land--perhaps no fairer has been in any land since
+Helen of Troy. This I can swear to, he added, smiting the board with his
+hand, because I have it from one who saw her at her home in Devon before
+her marriage. One who is a better judge in such matters than I am or
+than any one at this table, not excepting the king, seeing that he is
+not only gifted with the serpent's wisdom but with that creature's cold
+blood as well.
+
+Edgar heard him frowningly, then ended the discussion by rising, and
+silence fell on the company, for all saw that he was offended. But he
+was not offended with them, since they knew nothing of his and
+Athelwold's secret, and what they thought and felt about his friend was
+nothing to him. But these fatal words about Elfrida's beauty had pierced
+him with a sudden suspicion of his friend's treachery. And Athelwold was
+the man he greatly loved--the companion of all his years since their
+boyhood together. Had he betrayed him in this monstrous way--wounding
+him in his tenderest part? The very thought that such a thing might be
+was like a madness in him. Then he reflected--then he remembered, and
+said to himself: Yes, let me follow his teaching in this matter too, as
+in the other, and exercise caution and look before I leap. I shall look
+and look well and see and judge for myself.
+
+The result was that when his boon companions next met him there was no
+shadow of displeasure in him; he was in a peculiarly genial mood, and so
+continued. And when his friend returned he embraced him and gently
+upbraided him for having kept away for so long a time. He begged him to
+remember that he was his one friend and confidant who was more than a
+brother to him, and that if wholly deprived of his company he would
+regard himself as the loneliest man in the kingdom. Then in a short time
+he spoke once more in the same strain, and said he had not yet
+sufficiently honoured his friend before the world, and that he proposed
+visiting him at his own castle to make the acquaintance of his wife and
+spend a day with him hunting the boar in Harewood Forest.
+
+Athelwold, secretly alarmed, made a suitable reply, expressing his
+delight at the prospect of receiving the king, and begging him to give
+him a couple of days' notice before making his visit, so as to give him
+time to make all preparation for his entertainment.
+
+This the king promised, and also said that this would be an informal
+visit to a friend, that he would go alone with some of his servants and
+huntsmen and ride there one day, hunt the next day and return to
+Salisbury on the third day. And a little later, when the day of his
+visit was fixed on, Athelwold returned in haste with an anxious mind to
+his castle.
+
+Now his hard task and the most painful moment of his life had come.
+Alone with Elfrida in her chamber he cast himself down before her, and
+with his bowed head resting on her knees, made a clean breast of the
+whole damning story of the deceit he had practised towards the king in
+order to win her for himself. In anguish and shedding tears he implored
+her forgiveness, begging her to think of that irresistible power of love
+she had inspired in him, which would have made it worse than death to
+see her the wife of another--even of Edgar himself--his friend, the
+brother of his soul. Then he went on to speak of Edgar, who was of a
+sweet and lovable nature, yet capable of a deadly fury against those who
+offended him; and this was an offence he would take more to heart than
+any other; he would be implacable if he once thought that he had been
+wilfully deceived, and she only could now save them from certain
+destruction. For now it seemed to him that Edgar had conceived a
+suspicion that the account he had of her was not wholly true, which was
+that she was a handsome woman but not surpassingly beautiful as had been
+reputed, not graceful, not charming in manner and conversation. She
+could save them by justifying his description of her--by using a woman's
+art to lessen instead of enhancing her natural beauty, by putting away
+her natural charm and power to fascinate all who approached her.
+
+Thus he pleaded, praying for mercy, even as a captive prays to his
+conqueror for life, and never once daring to lift his bowed head to look
+at her face; while she sat motionless and silent, not a word, not a
+sigh, escaping her; and she was like a woman carved in stone, with knees
+of stone on which his head rested.
+
+Then, at length, exhausted with his passionate pleading and frightened
+at her silence and deadly stillness, he raised his head and looked up at
+her face to behold it radiant and smiling. Then, looking down lovingly
+into his eyes, she raised her hands to her head, and loosening the great
+mass of coiled tresses let them fall over him, covering his head and
+shoulders and back as with a splendid mantle of shining red gold. And
+he, the awful fear now gone, continued silently gazing up at her,
+absorbed in her wonderful loveliness.
+
+Bending down she put her arms round his neck and spoke: Do you not know,
+O Athelwold, that I love you alone and could love no other, noble or
+king; that without you life would not be life to me? All you have told
+me endears you more to me, and all you wish me to do shall be done,
+though it may cause your king and friend to think meanly of you for
+having given your hand to one so little worthy of you.
+
+She having thus spoken, he was ready to pour forth his gratitude in
+burning words, but she would not have it. No more words, she said,
+putting her hand on his mouth. Your anxious day is over--your burden
+dropped. Rest here on the couch by my side, and let me think on all
+there is to plan and do against to-morrow evening.
+
+And so they were silent, and he, reclining on the cushions, watched her
+face and saw her smile and wondered what was passing in her mind to
+cause that smile. Doubtless it was something to do with the question of
+her disguising arts.
+
+What had caused her to smile was a happy memory of the days with
+Athelwold before their marriage, when one day he came in to her with a
+leather bag in his hand and said: Do you, who are so beautiful yourself,
+love all beautiful things? And do you love the beauty of gems? And when
+she replied that she loved gems above all beautiful things, he poured
+out the contents of his bag in her lap--brilliants, sapphires, rubies,
+emeralds, opals, pearls in gold setting, in bracelets, necklets,
+pendants, rings and brooches. And when she gloated over this splendid
+gift, taking up gem after gem, exclaiming delightedly at its size and
+colour and lustre, he told her that he once knew a man who maintained
+that it was a mistake for a beautiful woman to wear gems. Why? she
+asked, would he have then wholly unadorned? No, he replied, he liked to
+see them wearing gold, saying that gold makes the most perfect setting
+for a woman's beauty, just as it does for a precious stone, and its
+effect is to enhance the beauty it surrounds. But the woman's beauty has
+its meeting and central point in the eyes, and the light and soul in
+them illumines the whole face. And in the stone nature simulates the
+eye, and although without a soul its brilliant light and colour make it
+the equal of the eye, and therefore when worn as an ornament it competes
+with the eye, and in effect lessens the beauty it is supposed to
+enhance. He said that gems should be worn only by women who are not
+beautiful, who must rely on something extraneous to attract attention,
+since it would be better to a homely woman that men should look at her
+to admire a diamond or sapphire than not to look at her at all. She had
+laughed and asked him who the man was who had such strange ideas, and he
+had replied that he had forgotten his name.
+
+Now, recalling this incident after so long a time, it all at once
+flashed into her mind that Edgar was the man he had spoken of; she knew
+now because, always secretly watchful, she had noted that he never spoke
+of Edgar or heard Edgar spoken of without a slight subtle change in the
+expression of his face, also, if he spoke, in the tone of his voice. It
+was the change that comes into the face, and into the tone, when one
+remembers or speaks of the person most loved in all the world. And she
+remembered now that he had that changed expression and tone of voice,
+when he had spoken of the man whose name he pretended to have forgotten.
+
+And while she sat thinking of this it grew dark in the room, the light
+of the fire having died down. Then presently, in the profound stillness
+of the room, she heard the sound of his deep, regular breathing and knew
+that he slept, and that it was a sweet sleep after his anxious day.
+Going softly to the hearth she moved the yet still glowing logs, until
+they sent up a sudden flame and the light fell upon the sleeper's still
+face. Turning, she gazed steadily at it--the face of the man who had won
+her; but her own face in the firelight was white and still and wore a
+strange expression. Now she moved noiselessly to his side and bent down
+as if to whisper in his ear, but suddenly drew back again and moved
+towards the door, then turning gazed once more at his face and murmured:
+No, no, even a word faintly whispered would bring him a dream, and it is
+better his sleep should be dreamless. For now he has had his day and it
+is finished, and to-morrow is mine.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+On the following day Athelwold was occupied with preparations for the
+king's reception and for the next day's boar-hunt in the forest. At the
+same time he was still somewhat anxious as to his wife's more difficult
+part, and from time to time he came to see and consult with her. He then
+observed a singular change in her, both in her appearance and conduct.
+No longer the radiant, loving Elfrida, her beauty now had been dimmed
+and she was unsmiling and her manner towards him repellant. She had
+nothing to say to him except that she wished him to leave her alone.
+Accordingly he withdrew, feeling a little hurt, and at the same time
+admiring her extraordinary skill in disguising her natural loveliness
+and charm, but almost fearing that she was making too great a change in
+her appearance.
+
+Thus passed the day, and in the late afternoon Edgar duly arrived, and
+when he had rested a little, was conducted to the banqueting-room, where
+the meeting with Elfrida would take place.
+
+Then Elfrida came, and Athelwold hastened to the entrance to take her
+hand and conduct her to the king; then, seeing her, he stood still and
+stared in silent astonishment and dismay at the change he saw in her,
+for never before had he beheld her so beautiful, so queenly and
+magnificent. What did it mean--did she wish to destroy him? Seeing the
+state he was in she placed her hand in his, and murmured softly: I know
+best. And so, holding her hand, he conducted her to the king, who stood
+waiting to receive her. For all she had done that day to please and to
+deceive him had now been undone, and everything that had been possible
+had been done to enhance her loveliness. She had arrayed herself in a
+violet-coloured silk gown with a network of gold thread over the body
+and wide sleeves to the elbows, and rope of gold round her waist with
+its long ends falling to her knee. The great mass of her coiled hair was
+surmounted with a golden comb, and golden pendants dropped from her ears
+to her shoulders. Also she wore gold armlets coiled serpent-wise round
+her white arms from elbow to wrist. Not a gem--nothing but pale yellow
+gold.
+
+Edgar himself was amazed at her loveliness, for never had he seen
+anything comparable to it; and when he gazed into her eyes she did not
+lower hers, but returned gaze for gaze, and there was that in her eyes
+and their strange eloquence which kindled a sudden flame of passion in
+his heart, and for a moment it appeared in his countenance. Then,
+quickly recovering himself, he greeted her graciously but with his usual
+kingly dignity of manner, and for the rest of the time he conversed with
+her and Athelwold in such a pleasant and friendly way that his host
+began to recover somewhat from his apprehensions. But in his heart Edgar
+was saying: And this is the woman that Athelwold, the close friend of
+all my days, from boyhood until now, the one man in the world I loved
+and trusted, has robbed me of!
+
+And Athelwold at the same time was revolving in his mind the mystery of
+Elfrida's action. What did she mean when she whispered to him that she
+knew best? And why, when she wished to appear in that magnificent way
+before the king, had she worn nothing but gold ornaments--not one of the
+splendid gems of which she possessed such a store?
+
+She had remembered something which he had forgotten.
+
+Now when the two friends were left alone together drinking wine,
+Athelwold was still troubled in his mind, although his suspicion and
+fear were not so acute as at first, and the longer they sat
+talking--until the small hours--the more relieved did he feel from
+Edgar's manner towards him. Edgar in his cups opened his heart and was
+more loving and free in his speech than ever before. He loved Athelwold
+as he loved no one else in the world, and to see him great and happy was
+his first desire; and he congratulated him from his heart on having
+found a wife who was worthy of him and would eventually bring him,
+through her father, such great possessions as would make him the chief
+nobleman in the land. All happiness and glory to them both; and when a
+child was born to them he would be its godfather, and if happily by that
+time there was a queen, she should be its godmother.
+
+Then he recalled their happy boyhood's days in East Anglia, that joyful
+time when they first hunted and had many a mishap and fell from their
+horses when they pursued hare and deer and bustard in the wide open
+stretches of sandy country; and in the autumn and winter months when
+they were wild-fowling in the great level flooded lands where the geese
+and all wild-fowl came in clouds and myriads. And now he laughed and now
+his eyes grew moist at the recollection of the irrecoverable glad days.
+
+Little time was left for sleep; yet they were ready early next morning
+for the day's great boar-hunt in the forest, and only when the king was
+about to mount his horse did Elfrida make her appearance. She came out
+to him from the door, not richly dressed now, but in a simple white
+linen robe and not an ornament on her except that splendid crown of the
+red-gold hair on her head. And her face too was almost colourless now,
+and grave and still. She brought wine in a golden cup and gave it to the
+king, and he once more fixed his eyes on her and for some moments they
+continued silently gazing, each in that fixed gaze seeming to devour the
+secrets of the other's soul. Then she wished him a happy hunting, and he
+said in reply he hoped it would be the happiest hunting he had ever had.
+Then, after drinking the wine, he mounted his horse and rode away. And
+she remained standing very still, the cup in her hand, gazing after him
+as he rode side by side with Athelwold, until in the distance the trees
+hid him from her sight.
+
+Now when they had ridden a distance of three miles or more into the
+heart of the forest, they came to a broad drive-like stretch of green
+turf, and the king cried: This is just what I have been wishing for!
+Come, let us give our horses a good gallop. And when they loosened the
+reins, the horses, glad to have a race on such a ground, instantly
+sprang forward; but Edgar, keeping a tight rein, was presently left
+twenty or thirty yards behind; then, setting spurs to his horse, he
+dashed forward, and on coming abreast of his companion, drew his knife
+and struck him in the back, dealing the blow with such a concentrated
+fury that the knife was buried almost to the hilt. Then violently
+wrenching it out, he would have struck again had not the earl, with a
+scream of agony, tumbled from his seat. The horse, freed from its rider,
+rushed on in a sudden panic, and the king's horse side by side with it.
+Edgar, throwing himself back and exerting his whole strength, succeeded
+in bringing him to a stop at a distance of fifty or sixty yards, then
+turning, came riding back at a furious speed.
+
+Now when Athelwold fell, all those who were riding behind, the earl's
+and the king's men to the number of thirty or forty, dashed forward, and
+some of them, hurriedly dismounting, gathered about him as he lay
+groaning and writhing and pouring out his blood on the ground. But at
+the king's approach they drew quickly back to make way for him, and he
+came straight on and caused his horse to trample on the fallen man. Then
+pointing to him with the knife he still had in his hand, he cried: That
+is how I serve a false friend and traitor! Then, wiping the stained
+knife-blade on his horse's neck and sheathing it, he shouted: Back to
+Salisbury! and setting spurs to his horse, galloped off towards the
+Andover road.
+
+His men immediately mounted and followed, leaving the earl's men with
+their master. Lifting him up, they placed him on a horse, and with a
+mounted man on each side to hold him up, they moved back at a walking
+pace towards Wherwell.
+
+Messengers were sent ahead to inform Elfrida of what had happened, and
+then, an hour later, yet another messenger to tell that Athelwold, when
+half-way home, had breathed his last. Then at last the corpse was
+brought to the castle and she met it with tears and lamentations. But
+afterwards in her own chamber, when she had dismissed all her
+attendants, as she desired to weep alone, her grief changed to joy. O,
+glorious Edgar, she said, the time will come when you will know what I
+feel now, when at your feet, embracing your knees and kissing the
+blessed hand that with one blow has given me life and liberty. One blow
+and your revenge was satisfied and you had won me; I know it, I saw it
+all in that flame of love and fury in your eyes at our first meeting,
+which you permitted me to see, which, if he had seen, he would have
+known that he was doomed. O perfect master of dissimulation, all the
+more do I love and worship you for dealing with him as he dealt with you
+and with me; caressing him with flattering words until the moment came
+to strike and slay. And I love you all the more for making your horse
+trample on him as he lay bleeding his life out on the ground. And now
+you have opened the way with your knife you shall come back or call me
+to you when it pleases you, and for the rest of your life it will be a
+satisfaction to you to know that you have taken a modest woman as well
+as the fairest in the land for wife and queen, and your pride in me will
+be my happiness and glory. For men's love is little to me since
+Athelwold taught me to think meanly of all men, except you that slew
+him. And you shall be free to follow your own mind and be ever strenuous
+and vigilant and run after kingly pleasures, pursuing deer and wolf and
+beautiful women all over the land. And I shall listen to the tales of
+your adventures and conquests with a smile like that of a mother who
+sees her child playing seriously with its dolls and toys, talking to and
+caressing them. And in return you shall give me my desire, which is
+power and splendour; for these I crave, to be first and greatest, to
+raise up and cast down, and in all our life I shall be your help and
+stay in ruling this realm, so that our names may be linked together and
+shine in the annals of England for all time.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Edgar slew Athelwold his age was twenty-two, and before he was a
+year older he had married Elfrida, to the rage of that great man and
+primate and more than premier, who, under Edgar, virtually ruled
+England. And in his rage, and remembering how he had dealt with a
+previous boy king, whose beautiful young wife he had hounded to her
+dreadful end, he charged Elfrida with having instigated her husband's
+murder, and commanded the king to put that woman away. This roused the
+man and passionate lover, and the tiger in the man, in Edgar, and the
+wise and subtle-minded ecclesiastic quickly recognised that he had set
+himself against one of a will more powerful and dangerous than his own.
+He remembered that it was Edgar, who, when he had been deprived of his
+abbey and driven in disgrace from the land, had recalled and made him so
+great, and he knew that the result of a quarrel between them would be a
+mighty upheaval in the land and the sweeping away of all his great
+reforms. And so, cursing the woman in his heart and secretly vowing
+vengeance on her, he was compelled in the interests of the Church to
+acquiesce in this fresh crime of the king.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+Eight years had passed since the king's marriage with Elfrida, and the
+one child born to them was now seven, the darling of his parents,
+Ethelred the angelic child, who to the end of his long life would be
+praised for one thing only--his personal beauty. But Edward, his
+half-brother, now in his thirteenth year, was regarded by her with an
+almost equal affection, on account of his beauty and charm, his devotion
+to his step-mother, the only mother he had known, and, above all, for
+his love of his little half-brother. He was never happy unless he was
+with him, acting the part of guide and instructor as well as playfellow.
+
+Edgar had recently completed one of his great works, the building of
+Corfe Castle, and now whenever he was in Wessex preferred it as a
+residence, since he loved best that part of England with its wide moors
+and hunting forests, and its neighbourhood to the sea and to Portland
+and Poole water. He had been absent for many weeks on a journey to
+Northumbria, and the last tidings of his movements were that he was on
+his way to the south, travelling on the Welsh border, and intended
+visiting the Abbot of Glastonbury before returning to Dorset. This
+religious house was already very great in his day; he had conferred many
+benefits on it, and contemplated still others.
+
+It was summer time, a season of great heats, and Elfrida with the two
+little princes often went to the coast to spend a whole day in the open
+air by the sea. Her favourite spot was at the foot of a vast chalk down
+with a slight strip of woodland between its lowest slope and the beach.
+She was at this spot one day about noon where the trees were few and
+large, growing wide apart, and had settled herself on a pile of cushions
+placed at the roots of a big old oak tree, where from her seat she could
+look out over the blue expanse of water. But the hamlet and church close
+by on her left hand were hidden by the wood, though sounds issuing from
+it could be heard occasionally--shouts and bursts of laughter, and at
+times the music of a stringed instrument and a voice singing. These
+sounds came from her armed guard and other attendants who were speeding
+the idle hours of waiting in their own way, in eating and drinking and
+in games and dancing. Only two women remained to attend to her wants,
+and one armed man to keep watch and guard over the two boys at their
+play.
+
+They were not now far off, not above fifty yards, among the big trees;
+but for hours past they had been away out of her sight, racing on their
+ponies over the great down; then bathing in the sea, Edward teaching his
+little brother to swim; then he had given him lessons in tree-climbing,
+and now, tired of all these exertions, and for variety's sake, they were
+amusing themselves by standing on their heads. Little Ethelred had tried
+and failed repeatedly, then at last, with hands and head firmly planted
+on the sward, he had succeeded in throwing his legs up and keeping them
+in a vertical position for a few seconds, this feat being loudly
+applauded by his young instructor.
+
+Elfrida, who had witnessed this display from her seat, burst out
+laughing, then said to herself: O how I love these two beautiful boys
+almost with an equal love, albeit one is not mine! But Edward must be
+ever dear to me because of his sweetness and his love of me and, even
+more, his love and tender care of my darling. Yet am I not wholly free
+from an anxious thought of the distant future. Ah, no, let me not think
+of such a thing! This sweet child of a boy-father and girl-mother--the
+frail mother that died in her teens--he can never grow to be a proud,
+masterful, ambitious man--never aspire to wear his father's crown!
+Edgar's first-born, it is true, but not mine, and he can never be king.
+For Edgar and I are one; is it conceivable that he should oppose me in
+this--that we that are one in mind and soul shall at the last be divided
+and at enmity? Have we not said it an hundred times that we are one? One
+in all things except in passion. Yet this very coldness in me in which I
+differ from others is my chief strength and glory, and has made our two
+lives one life. And when he is tired and satiated with the common beauty
+and the common passions of other women he returns to me only to have his
+first love kindled afresh, and when in love and pity I give myself to
+him and am his bride afresh as when first he had my body in his arms, it
+is to him as if one of the immortals had stooped to a mortal, and he
+tells me I am the flower of womankind and of the world, that my white
+body is a perfect white flower, my hair a shining gold flower, my mouth
+a fragrant scarlet flower, and my eyes a sacred blue flower, surpassing
+all others in loveliness. And when I have satisfied him, and the tempest
+in his blood has abated, then for the rapture he has had I have mine,
+when, ashamed at his violence, as if it had been an insult to me, he
+covers his face with my hair and sheds tears of love and contrition on
+my breasts. O nothing can ever disunite us! Even from the first, before
+I ever saw him, when he was coming to me I knew that we were destined to
+be one. And he too knew it from the moment of seeing me, and knew that I
+knew it; and when he sat at meat with us and looked smilingly at the
+friend of his bosom and spoke merrily to him, and resolved at the same
+time to take his life, he knew that by so doing he would fulfil my
+desire, and as my knowledge of the betrayal was first, so the desire to
+shed that abhorred blood was in me first. Nevertheless, I cannot be free
+of all anxious thoughts, and fear too of my implacable enemy and
+traducer who from a distance watches all my movements, who reads Edgar's
+mind even as he would a book, and what he finds there writ by me he
+seeks to blot out; and thus does he ever thwart me. But though I cannot
+measure my strength against his, it will not always be so, seeing that
+he is old and I am young, with Time and Death on my side, who will like
+good and faithful servants bring him to the dust, so that my triumph
+must come. And when he is no more I shall have time to unbuild the
+structure he has raised with lies for stones and my name coupled with
+some evil deed cut in every stone. For I look ever to the future, even
+to the end to see this Edgar, with the light of life shining so brightly
+in him now, a venerable king with silver hair, his passions cool, his
+strength failing, leaning more heavily on me; until at last, persuaded
+by me, he will step down from the throne and resign his crown to our
+son--our Ethelred. And in him and his son after him, and in his son's
+sons we shall live still in their blood, and with them rule this kingdom
+of Edgar the Peaceful--a realm of everlasting peace.
+
+Thus she mused, until overcome by her swift, crowding thoughts and
+passions, love and hate, with memories dreadful or beautiful, of her
+past and strivings of her mind to pierce the future, she burst into a
+violent storm of tears so that her frame was shaken, and covering her
+eyes with her hands she strove to get the better of her agitation lest
+her weakness should be witnessed by her attendants. But when this
+tempest had left her and she lifted her eyes again, it seemed to her
+that the burning tears which had relieved her heart had also washed away
+some trouble that had been like a dimness on all visible nature, and
+earth and sea and sky were glorified as if the sunlight flooding the
+world fell direct from the heavenly throne, and she sat drinking in pure
+delight from the sight of it and the soft, warm air she breathed.
+
+Then, to complete her happiness, the silence that reigned around her was
+broken by a sweet, musical sound of a little bird that sang from the
+tree-top high above her head. This was the redstart, and the tree under
+which she sat was its singing-tree, to which it resorted many times a
+day to spend half an hour or so repeating its brief song at intervals of
+a few seconds--a small song that was like the song of the redbreast,
+subdued, refined and spiritualised, as of a spirit that lived within the
+tree.
+
+Listening to it in that happy, tender mood which had followed her tears,
+she gazed up and tried to catch sight of it, but could see nothing but
+the deep-cut, green, translucent, clustering oak leaves showing the blue
+of heaven and shining like emeralds in the sunlight. O sweet, blessed
+little bird, she said, are you indeed a bird? I think you are a
+messenger sent to assure me that all my hopes and dreams of the distant
+days to come will be fulfilled. Sing again and again and again; I could
+listen for hours to that selfsame song.
+
+But she heard it no more; the bird had flown away. Then, still
+listening, she caught a different sound--the loud hoof-beats of horses
+being ridden at furious speed towards the hamlet. Listening intently to
+that sound she heard, on its arrival at the hamlet, a sudden, great cry
+as if all the men gathered there had united their voices in one cry; and
+she stood up, and her women came to her, and all together stood silently
+gazing in that direction. Then the two boys who had been lying on the
+turf not far off came running to them and caught her by the hands, one
+on each side, and Edward, looking up at her white, still face, cried,
+Mother, what is it you fear? But she answered no word. Then again the
+sound of hoofs was heard and they knew the riders were now coming at a
+swift gallop to them. And in a few moments they appeared among the
+trees, and reining up their horses at a distance of some yards, one
+sprang to the ground, and advancing to the queen, made his obeisance,
+then told her he had been sent to inform her of Edgar's death. He had
+been seized by a sudden violent fever in Gloucestershire, on his way to
+Glastonbury, and had died after two days' illness. He had been
+unconscious all the time, but more than once he had cried out, On to
+Glastonbury! and now in obedience to that command his body was being
+conveyed thither for interment at the abbey.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+
+She had no tears to shed, no word to say, nor was there any sense of
+grief at her loss. She had loved him--once upon a time; she had always
+admired him for his better qualities; even his excessive pride and
+ostentation had been pleasing to her; finally she had been more than
+tolerant of his vices or weaknesses, regarding them as matters beneath
+her attention. Nevertheless, in their eight years of married life they
+had become increasingly repugnant to her stronger and colder nature. He
+had degenerated, bodily and mentally, and was not now like that shining
+one who had come to her at Wherwell Castle, who had not hesitated to
+strike the blow that had set her free. The tidings of his death had all
+at once sprung the truth on her mind that the old love was dead, that it
+had indeed been long dead, and that she had actually come to despise
+him.
+
+But what should she do--what be--without him! She had been his queen,
+loved to adoration, and he had been her shield; now she was alone, face
+to face with her bitter, powerful enemy. Now it seemed to her that she
+had been living in a beautiful peaceful land, a paradise of fruit and
+flowers and all delightful things; that in a moment, as by a miracle, it
+had turned to a waste of black ashes still hot and smoking from the
+desolating flames that had passed over it. But she was not one to give
+herself over to despondency so long as there was anything to be done.
+Very quickly she roused herself to action, and despatched messengers to
+all those powerful friends who shared her hatred of the great
+archbishop, and would be glad of the opportunity now offered of wresting
+the rule from his hands. Until now he had triumphed because he had had
+the king to support him even in his most arbitrary and tyrannical
+measures; now was the time to show a bold front, to proclaim her son as
+the right successor, and with herself, assisted by chosen councillors to
+direct her boy, the power would be in her hands, and once more, as in
+King Edwin's day, the great Dunstan, disgraced and denounced, would be
+compelled to fly from the country lest a more dreadful punishment should
+befall him. Finally, leaving the two little princes at Corfe Castle, she
+travelled to Mercia to be with and animate her powerful friends and
+fellow-plotters with her presence.
+
+All their plottings and movements were known to Dunstan, and he was too
+quick for them. Whilst they, divided among themselves, were debating and
+arranging their plans, he had called together all the leading bishops
+and councillors of the late king, and they had agreed that Edward must
+be proclaimed as the first-born; and although but a boy of thirteen, the
+danger to the country would not be so great as it would to give the
+succession to a child of seven years. Accordingly Edward was proclaimed
+king and removed from Corfe Castle while the queen was still absent in
+Mercia.
+
+For a while it looked as if this bold and prompt act on the part of
+Dunstan would have led to civil war; but a great majority of the nobles
+gave their adhesion to Edward, and Elfrida's friends soon concluded that
+they were not strong enough to set her boy up and try to overthrow
+Edward, or to divide England again between two boy kings as in Edwin and
+Edgar's early years.
+
+She accordingly returned discomfited to Corfe and to her child, now
+always crying for his beloved brother who had been taken from him; and
+there was not in all England a more miserable woman than Elfrida the
+queen. For after this defeat she could hope no more; her power was gone
+past recovery--all that had made her life beautiful and glorious was
+gone. Now Corfe was like that other castle at Wherwell, where Earl
+Athelwold had kept her like a caged bird for his pleasure when he
+visited her; only worse, since she was eight years younger then, her
+beauty fresher, her heart burning with secret hopes and ambitions, and
+the great world where there were towns and a king, and many noble men
+and women gathered round him yet to be known. And all these things had
+come to her and were now lost--now nothing was left but bitterest
+regrets and hatred of all those who had failed her at the last. Hatred
+first of all and above all of her great triumphant enemy, and hatred of
+the boy king she had loved with a mother's love until now, and cherished
+for many years. Hatred too of herself when she recalled the part she had
+recently played in Mercia, where she had not disdained to practise all
+her fascinating arts on many persons she despised in order to bind them
+to her cause, and had thereby given cause to her monkish enemy to charge
+her with immodesty. It was with something like hatred too that she
+regarded her own child when he would come crying to her, begging her to
+take him to his beloved brother; carried away with sudden rage, she
+would strike and thrust him violently from her, then order her women to
+take him away and keep him out of her sight.
+
+Three years had gone by, during which she had continued living alone at
+Corfe, still under a cloud and nursing her bitter revengeful feeling in
+her heart, until that fatal afternoon on the eighteenth day of March,
+978.
+
+The young king, now in his seventeenth year, had come to these favourite
+hunting-grounds of his late father, and was out hunting on that day. He
+had lost sight of his companions in a wood or thicket of thorn and
+furze, and galloping in search of them he came out from the wood on the
+further side; and there before him, not a mile away, was Corfe Castle,
+his old beloved home, and the home still of the two beings he loved best
+in the world--his step-mother and his little half-brother. And although
+he had been sternly warned that they were his secret enemies, that it
+would be dangerous to hold any intercourse with them, the sight of the
+castle and his craving to look again on their dear faces overcame his
+scruples. There would be no harm, no danger to him and no great
+disobedience on his part to ride to the gates and see and greet them
+without dismounting.
+
+When Elfrida was told that Edward himself was at the gates calling to
+her and Ethelred to come out to him she became violently excited, and
+cried out that God himself was on her side, and had delivered the boy
+into her hands. She ordered her servants to go out and persuade him to
+come in to her, to take away his horse as soon as he had dismounted, and
+not to allow him to leave the castle. Then, when they returned to say
+the king refused to dismount and again begged them to go to him, she
+went to the gates, but without the boy, and greeted him joyfully, while
+he, glad at the meeting, bent down and embraced her and kissed her face.
+But when she refused to send for Ethelred, and urged him persistently to
+dismount and come in to see his little brother who was crying for him,
+he began to notice the extreme excitement which burned in her eyes and
+made her voice tremble, and beginning to fear some design against him,
+he refused again more firmly to obey her wish; then she, to gain time,
+sent for wine for him to drink before parting from her. And during all
+this time while his departure was being delayed, her people, men and
+women, had been coming out until, sitting on his horse, he was in the
+midst of a crowd, and these too all looked on him with excited faces,
+which increased his apprehension, so that when he had drunk the wine he
+all at once set spurs to his horse to break away from among them. Then
+she, looking at her men, cried out: Is this the way you serve me? And no
+sooner had the words fallen from her lips than one man bounded forward,
+like a hound on its quarry, and coming abreast of the horse, dealt the
+king a blow with his knife in the side. The next moment the horse and
+rider were free of the crowd and rushing away over the moor. A cry of
+horror had burst from the women gathered there when the blow was struck;
+now all were silent, watching with white, scared faces as he rode
+swiftly away. Then presently they saw him swerve on his horse, then
+fall, with his right foot still remaining caught in the stirrup, and
+that the panic-stricken horse was dragging him at furious speed over the
+rough moor.
+
+Only then the queen spoke, and in an agitated voice told them to mount
+and follow; and charged them that if they overtook the horse and found
+that the king had been killed, to bury the body where it would not be
+found, so that the manner of his death should not be known.
+
+When the men returned they reported that they had found the dead body of
+the king a mile away, where the horse had got free of it, and they had
+buried it in a thicket where it would never be discovered.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+
+When Edward in sudden terror set spurs to his horse: when at the same
+moment a knife flashed out and the fatal blow was delivered, Elfrida
+too, like the other women witnesses in the crowd, had uttered a cry of
+horror. But once the deed was accomplished and the assurance received
+that the body had been hidden where it would never be found, the feeling
+experienced at the spectacle was changed to one of exultation. For now
+at last, after three miserable years of brooding on her defeat, she had
+unexpectedly triumphed, and it was as if she already had her foot set on
+her enemies' necks. For now her boy would be king--happily there was no
+other candidate in the field; now her great friends from all over the
+land would fly to her aid, and with them for her councillors she would
+practically be the ruler during the king's long minority.
+
+Thus she exulted; then, when that first tempest of passionate excitement
+had abated, came a revulsion of feeling when the vivid recollections of
+that pitiful scene returned and would not be thrust away; when she saw
+again the change from affection and delight at beholding her to
+suspicion and fear, then terror, come into the face of the boy she had
+loved; when she witnessed the dreadful blow and watched him when he
+swerved and fell from the saddle and the frightened horse galloped
+wildly away dragging him over the rough moor. For now she knew that in
+her heart she had never hated him: the animosity had been only on the
+surface and was an overflow of her consuming hatred of the primate. She
+had always loved the boy, and now that he no longer stood in her way to
+power she loved him again. And she had slain him! O no, she was thankful
+to think she had not! His death had come about by chance. Her commands
+to her people had been that he was not to be allowed to leave the
+castle; she had resolved to detain him, to hide and hold him a captive,
+to persuade or in some way compel him to abdicate in his brother's
+favour. She could not now say just how she had intended to deal with
+him, but it was never her intention to murder him. Her commands had been
+misunderstood, and she could not be blamed for his death, however much
+she was to benefit by it. God would not hold her accountable.
+
+Could she then believe that she was guiltless in God's sight? Alas! on
+second thoughts she dared not affirm it. She was guiltless only in the
+way that she had been guiltless of Athelwold's murder; had she not
+rejoiced at the part she had had in that act? Athelwold had deserved his
+fate, and she had never repented that deed, nor had Edgar. She had not
+dealt the fatal blow then nor now, but she had wished for Edward's death
+even as she had wished for Athelwold's, and it was for her the blow was
+struck. It was a difficult and dreadful question. She was not equal to
+it. Let it be put off, the pressing question now was, what would man's
+judgment be--how would she now stand before the world?
+
+And now the hope came that the secret of the king's disappearance would
+never be known; that after a time it would be assumed that he was dead,
+and that his death would never be traced to her door.
+
+A vain hope, as she quickly found! There had been too many witnesses of
+the deed both of the castle people and those who lived outside the
+gates. The news spread fast and far as if carried by winged messengers,
+so that it was soon known throughout the kingdom, and everywhere it was
+told and believed that the queen herself had dealt the fatal blow.
+
+Not Elfrida nor any one living at that time could have foretold the
+effect on the people generally of this deed, described as the foulest
+which had been done in Saxon times. There had in fact been a thousand
+blacker deeds in the England of that dreadful period, but never one that
+touched the heart and imagination of the whole people in the same way.
+Furthermore, it came after a long pause, a serene interval of many years
+in the everlasting turmoil--the years of the reign of Edgar the
+Peaceful, whose early death had up till then been its one great sorrow.
+A time too of recovery from a state of insensibility to evil deeds; of
+increasing civilisation and the softening of hearts. For Edward was the
+child of Edgar and his child-wife, who was beautiful and beloved and
+died young; and he had inherited the beauty, charm, and all engaging
+qualities of his parents. It is true that these qualities were known at
+first-hand only by those who were about him; but from these the feeling
+inspired had been communicated to those outside in ever-widening circles
+until it was spread over all the land, so that there was no habitation,
+from the castle to the hovel, in which the name of Edward was not as
+music on man's lips. And we of the present generation can perhaps
+understand this better than those of any other in the past centuries,
+for having a prince and heir to the English throne of this same name so
+great in our annals, one as universally loved as was Edward the Second,
+afterwards called the Martyr, in his day.
+
+One result of this general outburst of feeling was that all those who
+had been, openly or secretly, in alliance with Elfrida now hastened to
+dissociate themselves from her. She was told that by her own rash act in
+killing the king before the world she had ruined her own cause for ever.
+
+And Dunstan was not defeated after all. He made haste to proclaim the
+son, the boy of ten years, king of England, and at the same time to
+denounce the mother as a murderess. Nor did she dare to resist him when
+he removed the little prince from Corfe Castle and placed him with some
+of his own creatures, with monks for schoolmasters and guardians, whose
+first lesson to him would be detestation of his mother. This lesson too
+had to be impressed on the public mind; and at once, in obedience to
+this command, every preaching monk in every chapel in the land raged
+against the queen, the enemy of the archbishop and of religion, the
+tigress in human shape, and author of the greatest crime known in the
+land since Cerdic's landing. No fortitude could stand against such a
+storm of execration. It overwhelmed her. It was, she believed, a
+preparation for the dreadful doom about to fall on her. This was her
+great enemy's day, and he would no longer be baulked of his revenge. She
+remembered that Edwin had died by the assassin's hand, and the awful
+fate of his queen Elgitha, whose too beautiful face was branded with hot
+irons, and who was hamstrung and left to perish in unimaginable agony.
+She was like the hunted roe deer hiding in a close thicket and
+listening, trembling, to the hunters shouting and blowing on their horns
+and to the baying of their dogs, seeking for her in the wood.
+
+Could she defend herself against them in her castle? She consulted her
+guard as to this, with the result that most of the men secretly left
+her. There was nothing for her to do but wait in dreadful suspense, and
+thereafter she would spend many hours every day in a tower commanding a
+wide view of the surrounding level country to watch the road with
+anxious eyes. But the feared hunters came not; the sound of the cry for
+vengeance grew fainter and fainter until it died into silence. It was at
+length borne in on her that she was not to be punished--at all events,
+not here and by man. It came as a surprise to every one, herself
+included. But it had been remembered that she was Edgar's widow and the
+king's mother, and that her power and influence were dead. Never again
+would she lift her head in England. Furthermore, Dunstan was growing
+old; and albeit his zeal for religion, pure and undefiled as he
+understood it, was not abated, the cruel, ruthless instincts and temper,
+which had accompanied and made it effective in the great day of conflict
+when he was engaged in sweeping from England the sin and scandal of a
+married clergy, had by now burnt themselves out. Vengeance is mine,
+saith the Lord, I will repay, and he was satisfied to have no more to do
+with her. Let the abhorred woman answer to God for her crimes.
+
+But now that all fear of punishment by man was over, this dreadful
+thought that she was answerable to God weighed more and more heavily on
+her. Nor could she escape by day or night from the persistent image of
+the murdered boy. It haunted her like a ghost in every room, and when
+she climbed to a tower to look out it was to see his horse rushing madly
+away dragging his bleeding body over the moor. Or when she went out to
+the gate it was still to find him there, sitting on his horse, his face
+lighting up with love and joy at beholding her again; then the
+change--the surprise, the fear, the wine-cup, the attempt to break away,
+her cry--the unconsidered words she had uttered--and the fatal blow! The
+cry that rose from all England calling on God to destroy her! would that
+be her torment--would it sound in her ears through all eternity?
+
+Corfe became unendurable to her, and eventually she moved to Bere, in
+Dorset, where the lands were her property and she possessed a house of
+her own, and there for upwards of a year she resided in the strictest
+seclusion.
+
+It then came out and was quickly noised abroad that the king's body had
+been discovered long ago--miraculously it was said--in that brake near
+Corfe where it had been hidden; that it had been removed to and secretly
+buried at Wareham, and it was also said that miracles were occurring at
+that spot. This caused a fresh outburst of excitement in the country;
+the cry of miracles roused the religious houses all over Wessex, and
+there was a clamour for possession of the remains. This was a question
+for the heads of the Church to decide, and it was eventually decreed
+that the monastery of Shaftesbury, founded by King Alfred, Edward's
+great-great-grandfather, should have the body. Shaftesbury then, in
+order to advertise so important an acquisition to the world, resolved to
+make the removal of the remains the occasion of a great ceremony, a
+magnificent procession bearing the sacred remains from Wareham to the
+distant little city on the hill, attended by representatives from
+religious houses all over the country and by the pious generally.
+
+Elfrida, sitting alone in her house, brooding on her desolation, heard
+of all these happenings and doings with increasing excitement; then all
+at once resolved to take part herself in the procession. This was
+seemingly a strange, almost incredible departure for one of her
+indomitable character and so embittered against the primate, even as he
+was against her. But her fight with him was now ended; she was defeated,
+broken, deprived of everything that she valued in life; it was time to
+think about the life to come. Furthermore, it now came to her that this
+was not her own thought, but that it had been whispered to her soul by
+some compassionate being of a higher order, and it was suggested to her
+that here was an opportunity for a first step towards a reconciliation
+with God and man. She dared not disregard it. Once more she would appear
+before the world, not as the beautiful, magnificent Elfrida, the proud
+and powerful woman of other days, but as a humble penitent doing her
+bitter penance in public, one of a thousand or ten thousand humble
+pilgrims, clad in mean garments, riding only when overcome with fatigue,
+and at the last stage of that long twenty-five-mile journey casting off
+her shoes to climb the steep stony road on naked, bleeding feet.
+
+This resolution, in which she was strongly supported by the local
+priesthood, had a mollifying effect on the people, and something like
+compassion began to mingle with their feelings of hatred towards her.
+But when it was reported to Dunstan, he fell into a rage, and imagined
+or pretended to believe that some sinister design was hidden under it.
+She was the same woman, he said, who had instigated the murder of her
+first husband by means of a trick of this kind. She must not be allowed
+to show her face again. He then despatched a stern and threatening
+message forbidding her to take any part in or show herself at the
+procession.
+
+This came at the last moment when all her preparations had been made;
+but she dared not disobey. The effect was to increase her misery. It was
+as if the gates of mercy and deliverance, which had been opened,
+miraculously as she believed, had now been once more closed against her;
+and it was also as if her enemy had said: I have spared you the branding
+with hot irons and slashing of sinews with sharp knives, not out of
+compassion, but in order to subject you to a more terrible punishment.
+
+Despair possessed her, which turned to sullen rage when she found that
+the feeling of the people around her had again become hostile, owing to
+the report that her non-appearance at the procession was due to the
+discovery by Dunstan in good time of a secret plot against the State on
+her part. Her house at Bere became unendurable to her; she resolved to
+quit it, and made choice of Salisbury as her next place of residence. It
+was not far to go, and she had a good house there which had not been
+used since Edgar's death, but was always kept ready for her occupation.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+
+It was about the middle of the afternoon when Elfrida on horseback and
+attended by her mounted guard of twenty or more men, followed by a
+convoy of carts with her servants and luggage, arrived at Salisbury, and
+was surprised and disturbed at the sight of a vast concourse of people
+standing without the gates.
+
+It had got abroad that she was coming to Salisbury on that day, and it
+was also now known throughout Wessex that she had not been allowed to
+attend the procession to Shaftesbury. This had excited the people, and a
+large part of the inhabitants of the town and the adjacent hamlets had
+congregated to witness her arrival.
+
+On her approach the crowd opened out on either side to make way for her
+and her men, and glancing to this side and that she saw that every pair
+of eyes in all that vast silent crowd were fixed intently on her face.
+
+Then came a fresh surprise when she found a mounted guard standing with
+drawn swords before the gates. The captain of the guard, lifting his
+hand, cried out to her to halt, then in a loud voice he informed her he
+had been ordered to turn her back from the gates. Was it then to witness
+this fresh insult that the people had now been brought together? Anger
+and apprehension struggled for mastery in her breast and choked her
+utterance when she attempted to speak. She could only turn to her men,
+and in instant response to her look they drew their swords and pressed
+forward as if about to force their way in. This movement on their part
+was greeted with a loud burst of derisive laughter from the town guard.
+Then from out of the middle of the crowd of lookers-on came a cry of
+Murderess! quickly followed by another shout of Go back, murderess, you
+are not wanted here! This was a signal for all the unruly spirits in the
+throng--all those whose delight is to trample upon the fallen--and from
+all sides there arose a storm of jeers and execrations, and it was as if
+she was in the midst of a frantic bellowing herd eager to gore and
+trample her to death. And these were the same people that a few short
+years ago would rush out from their houses to gaze with pride and
+delight at her, their beautiful queen, and applaud her to the echo
+whenever she appeared at their gates! Now, better than ever before, she
+realised the change of feeling towards her from affectionate loyalty to
+abhorrence, and drained to the last bitterest dregs the cup of shame and
+humiliation.
+
+With trembling hand she turned her horse round, and bending her ashen
+white face low rode slowly out of the crowd, her men close to her on
+either side, threatening with their swords those that pressed nearest
+and followed in their retreat by shouts and jeers. But when well out of
+sight and sound of the people she dismounted and sat down on the turf to
+rest and consider what was to be done. By and by a mounted man was seen
+coming from Salisbury at a fast gallop. He came with a letter and
+message to the queen from an aged nobleman, one she had known in former
+years at court. He informed her that he owned a large house at or near
+Amesbury which he could not now use on account of his age and
+infirmities, which compelled him to remain in Salisbury. This house she
+might occupy for as long as she wished to remain in the neighbourhood.
+He had received permission from the governor of the town to offer it to
+her, and the only condition was that she must not return to Salisbury.
+
+There was thus one friend left to the reviled and outcast queen--this
+aged dying man!
+
+Once more she set forth with the messenger as guide, and about set of
+sun arrived at the house, which was to be her home for the next two to
+three years, in this darkest period of her life. Yet she could not have
+found a habitation and surroundings more perfectly suited to her wants
+and the mood she was in. The house, which was large enough to
+accommodate all her people, was on the west side of the Avon, a quarter
+of a mile below Amesbury and two to three hundred yards distant from the
+river bank, and was surrounded by enclosed land with gardens and
+orchards, the river itself forming the boundary on one side. Here was
+the perfect seclusion she desired: here she could spend her hours and
+days as she ever loved to do in the open air without sight of any human
+countenance excepting those of her own people, since now strange faces
+had become hateful to her. Then, again, she loved riding, and just
+outside of her gates was the great green expanse of the Downs, where she
+could spend hours on horseback without meeting or seeing a human figure
+except occasionally a solitary shepherd guarding his flock. So great was
+the attraction the Downs had for her she herself marvelled at it. It was
+not merely the sense of power and freedom the rider feels on a horse
+with the exhilarating effect of swift motion and a wide horizon. Here
+she had got out of the old and into a new world better suited to her
+changed spirit. For in that world of men and women in which she had
+lived until now all nature had become interfused with her own and other
+people's lives--passions and hopes and fears and dreams and ambitions.
+Now it was as if an obscuring purple mist had been blown away, leaving
+the prospect sharp and clear to her sight as it had never appeared
+before. A wide prospect, whose grateful silence was only broken by the
+cry or song of some wild bird. Great thickets of dwarf thorn tree and
+brambles and gorse, aflame with yellow flowers or dark to blackness by
+contrast with the pale verdure of the earth. And open reaches of elastic
+turf, its green suffused or sprinkled with red or blue or yellow,
+according to the kind of flowers proper to the season and place. The
+sight, too, of wild creatures: fallow deer, looking yellow in the
+distance when seen amid the black gorse; a flock of bustards taking to
+flight on her approach would rush away, their spread wings flashing
+silver-white in the brilliant sunshine. She was like them on her horse,
+borne swiftly as on wings above the earth, but always near it. Then,
+casting her eyes up, she would watch the soarers, the buzzards, or
+harriers and others, circling up from earth on broad motionless wings,
+bird above bird, ever rising and diminishing to fade away at last into
+the universal blue. Then, as if aspiring too, she would seek the highest
+point on some high down, and sitting on her horse survey the prospect
+before her--the sea of rounded hills, hills beyond hills, stretching
+away to the dim horizon, and over it all the vast blue dome of heaven.
+Sky and earth, with thorny brakes and grass and flowers and wild
+creatures, with birds that flew low and others soaring up into
+heaven--what was the secret meaning it had for her? She was like one
+groping for a key in a dark place. Not a human figure visible, not a
+sign of human occupancy on that expanse! Was this then the secret of her
+elation? The all-powerful, dreadful God she was at enmity with, whom she
+feared and fled from, was not here. He, or his spirit, was where man
+inhabited, in cities and other centres of population, where there were
+churches and monasteries.
+
+To think this was a veritable relief to her. God was where men
+worshipped him, and not here! She hugged the new belief and it made her
+bold and defiant. Doubtless, if he is here, she would say, and can read
+my thoughts, my horse in his very next gallop will put his foot in a
+mole-run, and bring me down and break my neck. Or when yon black cloud
+comes over me, if it is a thunder-cloud, the lightning out of it will
+strike me dead. If he will but listen to his servant Dunstan this will
+surely happen. Was it God or the head shepherd of his sheep, here in
+England, who, when I tried to enter the fold, beat me off with his staff
+and set his dogs on me so that I was driven away, torn and bleeding, to
+hide myself in a solitary place? Would it then be better for me to go
+with my cries for mercy to his seat? O no, I could not come to him
+there; his doorkeepers would bar the way, and perhaps bring together a
+crowd of their people to howl at me--Go away, Murderess, you are not
+wanted here!
+
+Now in spite of those moments, or even hours, of elation, during which
+her mind would recover its old independence until the sense of freedom
+was like an intoxication; when she cried out against God that he was
+cruel and unjust in his dealings with his creatures, that he had raised
+up and given power to the man who held the rod over her, one who in
+God's holy name had committed crimes infinitely greater than hers, and
+she refused to submit to him--in spite of it all she could never shake
+off the terrible thought that in the end, at God's judgment seat, she
+would have to answer for her own dark deeds. She could not be free of
+her religion. She was like one who tears a written paper to pieces and
+scatters the pieces in anger to see them blown away like snow-flakes on
+the wind; who by and by discovers one small fragment clinging to his
+garments, and looking at the half a dozen words and half words appearing
+on it, adds others from memory or of his own invention. So she with what
+was left when she thrust her religion away built for herself a different
+one which was yet like the old; and even here in this solitude she was
+able to find a house and sacred place for meditation and prayer, in
+which she prayed indirectly to the God she was at enmity with. For now
+invariably on returning from her ride to her house at Amesbury she would
+pay a visit to the Great Stones, the ancient temple of Stonehenge.
+Dismounting, she would order her attendants to take her horse away and
+wait for her at a distance, so as not to be disturbed by the sound of
+their talking. Going in she would seat herself on the central or altar
+stone and give a little time to meditation--to the tuning of her mind.
+That circle of rough-hewn stones, rough with grey lichen, were the
+pillars of her cathedral, with the infinite blue sky for roof, and for
+incense the smell of flowers and aromatic herbs, and for music the
+far-off faintly heard sounds that came to her from the surrounding
+wilderness--the tremulous bleating of sheep and the sudden wild cry of
+hawk or stone curlew. Closing her eyes she would summon the familiar
+image and vision of the murdered boy, always coming so quickly, so
+vividly, that she had brought herself to believe that it was not a mere
+creation of her own mind and of remorse, a memory, but that he was
+actually there with her. Moving her hand over the rough stone she would
+by and by let it rest, pressing it on the stone, and would say, Now I
+have your hand in mine, and am looking with my soul's eyes into yours,
+listen again to the words I have spoken so many times. You would not be
+here if you did not remember me and pity and even love me still. Know
+then that I am now alone in the world, that I am hated by the world
+because of your bitter death. And there is not now one living being in
+the world that I love, for I have ceased to love even my own boy, your
+old beloved playmate, seeing that he has long been taken from me and
+taught with all others to despise and hate me. And of all those who
+inhabit the regions above, in all that innumerable multitude of angels
+and saints, and of all who have died on earth and been forgiven, you
+alone have any feeling of compassion for me and can intercede for me.
+Plead for me--plead for me, O my son; for who is there in heaven or
+earth that can plead so powerfully for me that am stained with your
+blood!
+
+Then, having finished her prayer, and wiped away all trace of tears and
+painful emotions, she would summon her attendants and ride home, in
+appearance and bearing still the Elfrida of her great days--the calm,
+proud-faced, beautiful woman who was once Edgar's queen.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+
+The time had arrived when Elfrida was deprived of this her one relief
+and consolation--her rides on the Downs and the exercise of her religion
+at the temple of the Great Stones--when in the second winter of her
+residence at Amesbury there fell a greater darkness than that of winter
+on England, when the pirate kings of the north began once more to
+frequent our shores, and the daily dreadful tale of battles and
+massacres and burning of villages and monasteries was heard throughout
+the kingdom. These invasions were at first confined to the eastern
+counties, but the agitation, with movements of men and outbreaks of
+lawlessness, were everywhere in the country, and the queen was warned
+that it was no longer safe for her to go out on Salisbury Plain.
+
+The close seclusion in which she had now to live, confined to house and
+enclosed land, affected her spirits, and this was her darkest period,
+and it was also the turning-point in her life. For I now come to the
+strange story of her maid Editha, who, despite her humble position in
+the house, and albeit she was but a young girl in years, one, moreover,
+of a meek, timid disposition, was yet destined to play an exceedingly
+important part in the queen's history.
+
+It happened that by chance or design the queen's maid, who was her
+closest attendant, who dressed and undressed her, was suddenly called
+away on some urgent matter, and this girl Editha, a stranger to all, was
+put in her place. The queen, who was in a moody and irritable state,
+presently discovered that the sight and presence of this girl produced a
+soothing effect on her darkened mind. She began to notice her when the
+maid combed her hair, when sitting with half-closed eyes in profound
+dejection she first looked attentively at that face behind her head in
+the mirror and marvelled at its fairness, the perfection of its lines
+and its delicate colouring, the pale gold hair and strangely serious
+grey eyes that were never lifted to meet her own.
+
+What was it in this face, she asked herself, that held her and gave some
+rest to her tormented spirit? It reminded her of that crystal stream of
+sweet and bitter memories, at Wherwell, on which she used to gaze and in
+which she used to dip her hands, then to press the wetted hands to her
+lips. It also reminded her of an early morning sky, seen beyond and
+above the green dew-wet earth, so infinitely far away, so peaceful with
+a peace that was not of this earth.
+
+It was not then merely its beauty that made this face so much to her,
+but something greater behind it, some inner grace, the peace of God in
+her soul.
+
+One day there came for the queen as a gift from some distant town a
+volume of parables and fables for her entertainment. It was beautiful to
+the sight, being richly bound in silk and gold embroidery; but on
+opening it she soon found that there was little pleasure to be got from
+it on account of the difficulty she found in reading the crabbed
+handwriting. After spending some minutes in trying to decipher a
+paragraph or two she threw the book in disgust on the floor.
+
+The maid picked it up, and after a glance at the first page said it was
+easy to her, and she asked if the queen would allow her to read it to
+her.
+
+Elfrida, surprised, asked how it came about that her maid was able to
+read a difficult script with ease, or was able to read at all; and this
+was the first question she had condescended to put to the girl. Editha
+replied that she had been taught as a child by a great-uncle, a learned
+man; that she had been made to read volumes in a great variety of
+scripts to him, until reading had come easy to her, both Saxon and
+Latin.
+
+Then, having received permission, she read the first fable aloud, and
+Elfrida listening, albeit without interest in the tale itself, found
+that the voice increased the girl's attraction for her. From that time
+the queen made her read to her every day. She would make her sit a
+little distance from her, and reclining on her couch, her head resting
+on her hand, she would let her eyes dwell on that sweet saint-like face
+until the reading was finished.
+
+One day she read from the same book a tale of a great noble, an
+earldoman who was ruler under the king of that part of the country where
+his possessions were, whose power was practically unlimited and his word
+law. But he was a wise and just man, regardful of the rights of others,
+even of the meanest of men, so that he was greatly reverenced and loved
+by the people. Nevertheless, he too, like all men in authority, both
+good and bad, had his enemies, and the chief of these was a noble of a
+proud and froward temper who had quarrelled with him about their
+respective rights in certain properties where their lands adjoined.
+Again and again it was shown to him that his contention was wrong; the
+judgments against him only served to increase his bitterness and
+hostility until it seemed that there would never be an end to that
+strife. This at length so incensed his powerful overlord that he was
+forcibly deprived of his possessions and driven out beggared from his
+home. But no punishment, however severe, could change his nature; it
+only roused him to greater fury, a more fixed determination to have his
+revenge, so that outcast as he was his enmity was still to be feared and
+he was a danger to the ruler and the community in general. Then, at
+last, the great earl said he would suffer this state of things no
+longer, and he ordered his men to go out and seek and take him captive
+and bring him up for a final judgment. This was done, and the ruler then
+said he would not have him put to death as he was advised to do, so as
+to be rid of him once for all, but would inflict a greater punishment on
+him. He then made them put heavy irons on his ankles, riveted so that
+they should never be removed, and condemned him to slavery and to labour
+every day in his fields and pleasure-grounds for the rest of his life.
+To see his hated enemy reduced to that condition would, he said, be a
+satisfaction to him whenever he walked in his gardens.
+
+These stern commands were obeyed, and when the miserable man refused to
+do his task and cried out in a rage that he would rather die, he was
+scourged until the blood ran from the wounds made by the lash; and at
+last, to escape from this torture, he was compelled to obey, and from
+morning to night he laboured on the land, planting and digging and doing
+whatever there was to do, always watched by his overseer, his food
+thrown to him as to a dog; laughed and jeered at by the meanest of the
+servants.
+
+After a certain time, when his body grew hardened so that he could
+labour all day without pain, and, being fatigued, sleep all night
+without waking, though he had nothing but straw on a stone floor to lie
+upon; and when he was no longer mocked or punished or threatened with
+the lash, he began to reflect more and more on his condition, and to
+think that it would be possible to him to make it more endurable. When
+brooding on it, when he repined and cursed, it then seemed to him worse
+than death; but when, occupied with his task, he forgot that he was the
+slave of his enemy, who had overcome and broken him, then it no longer
+seemed so heavy. The sun still shone for him as for others; the earth
+was as green, the sky as blue, the flowers as fragrant. This reflection
+made his misery less; and by and by it came into his mind that it would
+be lessened more and more if he could forget that his master was his
+enemy and cruel persecutor, who took delight in the thought of his
+sufferings; if he could imagine that he had a different master, a great
+and good man who had ever been kind to him and whom his sole desire was
+to please. This thought working in his mind began to give him a
+satisfaction in his toil, and this change in him was noticed by his
+taskmaster, who began to see that he did his work with an understanding
+so much above that of his fellows that all those who laboured with him
+were influenced by his example, and whatsoever the toil was in which he
+had a part the work was better done. From the taskmaster this change
+became known to the chief head of all the lands, who thereupon had him
+set to other more important tasks, so that at last he was not only a
+toiler with pick and spade and pruning knife, but his counsel was sought
+in everything that concerned the larger works on the land; in forming
+plantations, in the draining of wet grounds and building of houses and
+bridges and the making of new roads. And in all these works he acquitted
+himself well.
+
+Thus he laboured for years, and it all became known to the ruler, who at
+length ordered the man to be brought before him to receive yet another
+final judgment. And when he stood before him, hairy, dirty and unkempt,
+in his ragged raiment, with toil-hardened hands and heavy irons on his
+legs, he first ordered the irons to be removed.
+
+The smiths came with their files and hammers, and with much labour took
+them off.
+
+Then the ruler, his powerful old enemy, spoke these words to him: I do
+not know what your motives were in doing what you have done in all these
+years of your slavery; nor do I ask to be told. It is sufficient for me
+to know you have done these things, which are for my benefit and are a
+debt which must now be paid. You are henceforth free, and the
+possessions you were deprived of shall be restored to you, and as to the
+past and all the evil thoughts you had of me and all you did against me,
+it is forgiven and from this day will be forgotten. Go now in peace.
+
+When this last word had been spoken by his enemy, all that remained of
+the old hatred and bitterness went out of him, and it was as if his soul
+as well as his feet had been burdened with heavy irons and that they had
+now been removed, and that he was free with a freedom he had never known
+before.
+
+When the reading was finished, the queen with eyes cast down remained
+for some time immersed in thought; then with a keen glance at the maid's
+face she asked for the book, and opening it began slowly turning the
+leaves. By and by her face darkened, and in a stern tone of voice she
+said: Come here and show me in this book the parable you have just read,
+and then you shall also show me two or three other parables you have
+read to me on former occasions, which I cannot find.
+
+The maid, pale and trembling, came and dropped on her knees and begged
+forgiveness for having recited these three or four tales, which she had
+heard or read elsewhere and committed to memory, and had pretended to
+read them out of the book.
+
+Then the queen in a sudden rage said: Go from me and let me not see you
+again if you do not wish to be stripped and scourged and thrust naked
+out of the gates! And you only escape this punishment because the deceit
+you have been practising on me is, to my thinking, not of your own
+invention, but that of some crafty monk who is making you his
+instrument.
+
+Editha, terrified and weeping, hurriedly quitted the room.
+
+By and by, when that sudden tempest of rage had subsided, the
+despondence, which had been somewhat lightened by the maid's presence,
+came back on her so heavily that it was almost past endurance. She rose
+and went to her sleeping-room, and knelt before a table on which stood a
+crucifix with an image of the Saviour on it--the emblem of the religion
+she had so great a quarrel with. But not to pray. Folding her arms on
+the table and dropping her face on them she said: What have I done? And
+again and again she repeated: What have I done? Was it indeed a monk who
+taught her this deceit, or some higher being who put it in her mind to
+whisper a hope to my soul? To show me a way of escape from everlasting
+death--to labour in his fields and pleasure-grounds, a wretched slave
+with irons on her feet, to be scourged and mocked at, and in this state
+to cast out hatred and bitterness from my own soul and all remembrance
+of the injuries he had inflicted on me--to teach myself through long
+miserable years that this powerful enemy and persecutor is a kind and
+loving master? This is the parable, and now my soul tells me it would be
+a light punishment when I look at the red stains on these hands, and
+when the image of the boy I loved and murdered comes back to me. This
+then was the message, and I drove the messenger from me with cruel
+threats and insult.
+
+Suddenly she rose, and going hurriedly out, called to her maids to bring
+Editha to her. They told her the maid had departed instantly on being
+dismissed, and had gone upwards of an hour. Then she ordered them to go
+and search for her in all the neighbourhood, at every house, and when
+they had found her to bring her back by persuasion or by force.
+
+They returned after a time only to say they had sought for her
+everywhere and had failed to find or hear any report of her, but that
+some of the mounted men who had gone to look for her on the roads had
+not yet returned.
+
+Left alone once more she turned to a window which looked towards
+Salisbury, and saw the westering sun hanging low in a sky of broken
+clouds over the valley of the Avon and the green downs on either side.
+And, still communing with herself, she said: I know that I shall not
+endure it long--this great fear of God--I know that it will madden me.
+And for the unforgiven who die mad there can be no hope. Only the sight
+of my maid's face with God's peace in it could save me from madness. No,
+I shall not go mad! I shall take it as a sign that I cannot be forgiven
+if the sun goes down without my seeing her again. I shall kill myself
+before madness comes and rest oblivious of life and all things, even of
+God's wrath, until the dreadful waking.
+
+For some time longer she continued standing motionless, watching the
+sun, now sinking behind a dark cloud, then emerging and lighting up the
+dim interior of her room and her stone-white, desolate face.
+
+Then once more her servants came back, and with them Editha, who had
+been found on the road to Salisbury, half-way there.
+
+Left alone together, the queen took the maid by the hand and led her to
+a seat, then fell on her knees before her and clasped her legs and
+begged her forgiveness. When the maid replied that she had forgiven her,
+and tried to raise her up, she resisted, and cried: No, I cannot rise
+from my knees nor loose my hold on you until I have confessed to you and
+you have promised to save me. Now I see in you not my maid who combs my
+hair and ties my shoe-strings, but one that God loves, whom he exalts
+above the queens and nobles of the earth, and while I cling to you he
+will not strike. Look into this heart that has hated him, look at its
+frightful passions, its blood-guiltiness, and have compassion on me! And
+if you, O Editha, should reply to me that it is his will, for he has
+said it, that every soul shall save itself, show me the way. How shall I
+approach him? Teach me humility!
+
+Thus she pleaded and abased herself. Nevertheless it was a hard task she
+imposed upon her helper, seeing that humility, of all virtues, was the
+most contrary to her nature. And when she was told that the first step
+to be taken was to be reconciled to the church, and to the head of the
+church, her chief enemy and persecutor, whose monks, obedient to his
+command, had blackened her name in all the land, her soul was in fierce
+revolt. Nevertheless she had to submit, seeing that God himself through
+his Son when on earth and his Son's disciples had established the
+church, and by that door only could any soul approach him. So there was
+an end to that conflict, and Elfrida, beaten and broken, although ever
+secretly hating the tonsured keepers of her soul, set forth under their
+guidance on her weary pilgrimage--the long last years of her bitter
+expiation.
+
+Yet there was to be one more conflict between the two women--the
+imperious mistress and the humble-minded maid. This was when Editha
+announced to the other that the time had now come for her to depart. But
+the queen wished to keep her, and tried by all means to do so, by
+pleading with her and by threatening to detain her by force. Then
+repenting her anger and remembering the great debt of gratitude owing to
+the girl, she resolved to reward her generously, to bestow wealth on
+her, but in such a form that it would appear to the girl as a beautiful
+parting gift from one who had loved her: only afterwards, when they were
+far apart, would she discover its real value.
+
+A memory of the past had come to her--of that day, sixteen years ago,
+when her lover came to her and using sweet flattering words poured out
+from a bag a great quantity of priceless jewels into her lap, and of the
+joy she had in the gift. Also how from the day of Athelwold's death she
+had kept those treasures put away in the same bag out of her sight. Nor
+in all the days of her life with Edgar had she ever worn a gem, though
+she had always loved to array herself magnificently, but her ornaments
+had been gold only, the work of the best artists in Europe. Now, in
+imitation of Athelwold, when his manner of bestowing the jewels had so
+charmed her, she would bestow them on the girl.
+
+Accordingly when the moment of separation came and Editha was made to
+seat herself, the queen standing over her with the bag in her hand said:
+Do you, Editha, love all beautiful things? And when the maid had replied
+that she did, the other said: Then take these gems, which are beautiful,
+as a parting gift from me. And with that she poured out the mass of
+glittering jewels into the girl's lap.
+
+But the maid without touching or even looking at them, and with a cry, I
+want no jewels! started to her feet so that they were all scattered upon
+the floor.
+
+The queen stared astonished at the face before her with its new look of
+pride and excitement, then with rising anger she said: Is my maid too
+proud then to accept a gift from me? Does she not know that a single one
+of those gems thrown on the floor would be more than a fortune to her?
+
+The girl replied in the same proud way: I am not your maid, and gems are
+no more to me than pebbles from the brook!
+
+Then all at once recovering her meek, gentle manner she cried in a voice
+that pierced the queen's heart: O, not your maid, only your
+fellow-worker in our Master's fields and pleasure-grounds! Before I ever
+beheld your face, and since we have been together, my heart has bled for
+you, and my daily cry to God has been: Forgive her! Forgive her, for his
+sake who died for our sins! And this shall I continue to cry though I
+shall see you no more on earth. But we shall meet again. Not, O unhappy
+queen, at life's end, but long afterwards--long, long years! long ages!
+
+Dropping on her knees she caught and kissed the queen's hand, shedding
+abundant tears on it, then rose and was quickly gone.
+
+Elfrida, left to herself, scarcely recovered from the shock of surprise
+at that sudden change in the girl's manner, began to wonder at her own
+blindness in not having seen through her disguise from the first. The
+revelation had come to her only at the last moment in that proud gesture
+and speech when her gift was rejected, not without scorn. A child of
+nobles great as any in the land, what had made her do this thing? What
+indeed but the heavenly spirit that was in her, the spirit that was in
+Christ--the divine passion to save!
+
+Now she began to ponder on those last words the maid had spoken, and the
+more she thought of them the greater became her sadness until it was
+like the approach of death. O terrible words! Yet it was what she had
+feared, even when she had dared to hope for forgiveness. Now she knew
+what her life after death was to be since the word had been spoken by
+those inspired lips. O dreadful destiny! To dwell alone, to tread alone
+that desert desolate, that illimitable waste of burning sand stretching
+from star to star through infinite space, where was no rock nor tree to
+give her shade, no fountain to quench her fiery thirst! For that was how
+she imaged the future life, as a desert to be dwelt in until in the end,
+when in God's good time--the time of One to whom a thousand years are as
+one day--she would receive the final pardon and be admitted to rest in a
+green and shaded place.
+
+Overcome with the agonising thought she sank down on her couch and fell
+into a faint. In that state she was found by her women, reclining, still
+as death, with eyes closed, the whiteness of death in her face; and
+thinking her dead they rushed out terrified, crying aloud and lamenting
+that the queen was dead.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+
+She was not dead. She recovered from that swoon, but never from the
+deep, unbroken sadness caused by those last words of the maid Editha,
+which had overcome and nearly slain her. She now abandoned her
+seclusion, but the world she returned to was not the old one. The
+thought that every person she met was saying in his or her heart: This
+is Elfrida; this is the queen who murdered Edward the Martyr, her
+step-son, made that world impossible. The men and women she now
+consorted with were the religious and ecclesiastics of all degrees, and
+abbots and abbesses. These were the people she loved least, yet now into
+their hands she deliberately gave herself; and to those who questioned
+her, to her spiritual guides, she revealed all her life and thoughts and
+passions, opening her soul to their eyes like a manuscript for them to
+read and consider; and when they told her that in God's sight she was
+guilty of the murder both of Edward and Athelwold, she replied that they
+doubtless knew best what was in God's mind, and whatever they commanded
+her to do that should be done, and if in her own mind it was not as they
+said this could be taken as a defect in her understanding. For in her
+heart she was not changed, and had not yet and never would learn the
+bitter lesson of humility. Furthermore, she knew better than they what
+life and death had in store for her, since it had been revealed to her
+by holier lips than those of any priest. Lips on which had been laid a
+coal from the heavenly altar, and what they had foretold would come to
+pass--that unearthly pilgrimage and purification--that destiny,
+dreadful, ineluctable, that made her soul faint to think of it. Here, on
+this earth, it was for her to toil, a slave with heavy irons on her
+feet, in her master's fields and pleasure-grounds, and these gowned men
+with shaven heads, wearing ropes of beads and crucifixes as emblems of
+their authority--these were the taskmasters set over her, and to these,
+she, Elfrida, one time queen in England, would bend in submission and
+humbly confess her sins, and uncomplainingly take whatever austerities
+or other punishments they decreed.
+
+Here, then, at Amesbury itself, she began her works of expiation, and
+found that she, too, like the unhappy man in the parable, could
+experience some relief and satisfaction in her solitary embittered
+existence in the work itself.
+
+Having been told that at this village where she was living a monastery
+had existed and had been destroyed in the dreadful wars of two to three
+centuries ago, she conceived the idea of founding a new one, a nunnery,
+and endowing it richly, and accordingly the Abbey of Amesbury was built
+and generously endowed by her.
+
+This religious house became famous in after days, and was resorted to by
+the noblest ladies in the land who desired to take the veil, including
+princesses and widow queens; and it continued to flourish for centuries,
+down to the Dissolution.
+
+This work completed, she returned, after nineteen years, to her old home
+at Wherwell. Since she had lost sight of her maid Editha, she had been
+possessed with a desire to re-visit that spot, where she had been happy
+as a young bride and had repined in solitude and had had her glorious
+triumph and stained her soul with crime. She craved for it again,
+especially to look once more at the crystal current of the Test in which
+she had been accustomed to dip her hands. The grave, saintly face of
+Editha had reminded her of that stream; and Editha she might not see.
+She could not seek for her, nor speak to her, nor cry to her to come
+back to her, since she had said that they would meet no more on earth.
+
+Having become possessed of the castle which she had once regarded as her
+prison and cage, she ordered its demolition and used the materials in
+building the abbey she founded at that spot, and it was taken for
+granted by the Church that this was done in expiation of the part she
+had taken in Athelwold's murder. At this spot where the stream became
+associated in her mind with the thought of Editha, and was a sacred
+stream, she resolved to end her days. But the time of her retirement was
+not yet, there was much still waiting for her to do in her master's
+fields and pleasure-grounds. For no sooner had the tidings of her work
+in founding these monasteries and the lavish use she was making of her
+great wealth been spread abroad, than from many religious houses all
+over the land the cry was sent to her--the Macedonian cry to St. Paul to
+come over and help us.
+
+From the houses founded by Edgar the cry was particularly loud and
+insistent. There were forty-seven of them, and had not Edgar died so
+soon there would have been fifty, that being the number he had set his
+heart on in his fervid zeal for religion. All, alas! were insufficiently
+endowed; and it was for Elfrida, as they were careful to point out, to
+increase their income from her great wealth, seeing that this would
+enable them to associate her name with that of Edgar and keep it in
+memory, and this would be good for her soul.
+
+To all such calls she listened, and she performed many and long journeys
+to the religious houses all over the country to look closely into their
+conditions and needs, and to all she gave freely or in moderation, but
+not always without a gesture of scorn. For in her heart of hearts she
+was still Elfrida and unchanged, albeit outwardly she had attained to
+humility; only once during these years of travel and toil when she was
+getting rid of her wealth did she allow her secret bitterness and
+hostility to her ecclesiastical guides and advisers to break out.
+
+She was at Worcester, engaged in a conference with the bishop and
+several of his clergy; they were sitting at an oak table with some
+papers and plans before them, when the news was brought into the room
+that Archbishop Dunstan was dead.
+
+They all, except Elfrida, started to their feet with the looks and
+exclamations of dismay, as if some frightful calamity had come to pass.
+Then dropping to their knees with bowed heads and lifted hands they
+prayed for the repose of his soul. They prayed silently, but the silence
+was broken by a laugh from the queen. Starting to his feet the bishop
+turned on her a severe countenance, and asked why she laughed at that
+solemn moment.
+
+She replied that she had laughed unthinkingly, as the linnet sings, from
+pure joy of heart at the glad tidings that their holy archbishop had
+been translated to paradise. For if he had done so much for England when
+burdened with the flesh, how much more would he be able to do now from
+the seat or throne to which he would be exalted in heaven in virtue of
+the position his blessed mother now occupied in that place.
+
+The bishop, angered at her mocking words, turned his back on her, and
+the others, following his example, averted their faces, but not one word
+did they utter.
+
+They remembered that Dunstan in former years, when striving to make
+himself all powerful in the kingdom, had made free use of a supernatural
+machinery; that when he wanted something done and it could not be done
+in any other way, he received a command from heaven, brought to him by
+some saint or angel, to have it done, and the command had then to be
+obeyed. They also remembered that when Dunstan, as he informed them, had
+been snatched up into the seventh heaven, he did not on his return to
+earth modestly, like St. Paul, that it was not lawful for him to speak
+of the things which he had heard and seen, but he proclaimed them to an
+astonished world in his loudest trumpet voice. Also, that when, by these
+means, he had established his power and influence and knew that he could
+trust his own subtle brains to maintain his position, he had dropped the
+miracles and visions. And it had come to pass that when the archbishop
+had seen fit to leave the supernatural element out of his policy, the
+heads of the Church in England were only too pleased to have it so. The
+world had gaped with astonishment at these revelations long enough, and
+its credulity had come near to the breaking point, on which account the
+raking up of these perilous matters by the queen was fiercely resented.
+
+But the queen was not yet satisfied that enough had been said by her.
+Now she was in full revolt she must give out once for all the hatred of
+her old enemy, which his death had not appeased.
+
+What mean you, Fathers, she cried, by turning your backs on me and
+keeping silence? Is it an insult to me you intend or to the memory of
+that great and holy man who has just quitted the earth? Will you dare to
+say that the reports he brought to us of the marvellous doings he
+witnessed in heaven, when he was taken there, were false and the lies
+and inventions of Satan, whose servant he was?
+
+More than that she was not allowed to say, for now the bishop in a
+mighty rage swung round, and dealt a blow on the table with such fury
+that his arm was disabled by it, he shouted at her: Not another word!
+Hold your mocking tongue, fiendish woman! Then plucking up his gown with
+his left hand for fear of being tripped up by it he rushed out of the
+room.
+
+The others, still keeping their faces averted from her, followed at a
+more dignified pace; and seeing them depart she cried after them: Go,
+Fathers, and tell your bishop that if he had not run away so soon he
+would have been rewarded for his insolence by a slap in the face.
+
+This outburst on her part caused no lasting break in her relations with
+the Church. It was to her merely an incident in her long day's toil in
+her master's fields--a quarrel she had had with an overseer; while he,
+on his side, even before he recovered the use of his injured arm,
+thought it best for their souls, as well as for the interests of the
+Church, to say no more about it. Her great works of expiation were
+accordingly continued. But the time at length arrived for her to take
+her long-desired rest before facing the unknown dreaded future. She was
+not old in years, but remorse and a deep settled melancholy and her
+frequent fierce wrestlings with her own rebellious nature as with an
+untamed dangerous animal chained to her had made her old. Furthermore,
+she had by now well-nigh expended all her possessions and wealth, even
+to the gems she had once prized and then thrust away out of sight for
+many years, and which her maid Editha had rejected with scorn, saying
+they were no more to her than pebbles from the brook.
+
+Once more at Wherwell, she entered the Abbey, and albeit she took the
+veil herself she was not under the same strict rule as her sister nuns.
+The Abbess herself retired to Winchester and ruled the convent from that
+city, while Elfrida had the liberty she desired, to live and do as she
+liked in her own rooms and attend prayers and meals only when inclined
+to do so. There, as always, since Edward's death, her life was a
+solitary one, and in the cold season she would have her fire of logs and
+sit before it as in the old days in the castle, brooding ever on her
+happy and unhappy past and on the awful future, the years and centuries
+of suffering and purification.
+
+It was chiefly this thought of the solitariness of that future state,
+that companionless way, centuries long, that daunted her. Here in this
+earthly state, darkened as it was, there were yet two souls she could
+and constantly did hold communion with--Editha still on earth, though
+not with her, and Edward in heaven; but in that dreadful desert to which
+she would be banished there would be a great gulf set between her soul
+and theirs.
+
+But perhaps there would be others she had known, whose lives had been
+interwoven with hers, she would be allowed to commune with in that same
+place. Edgar of a certainty would be there, although Glastonbury had
+built him a chapel and put him in a silver tomb and had begun to call
+him Saint Edgar. Would he find her and seek to have speech with her? It
+was anguish to her even to think of such an encounter. She would say, Do
+not come to me, for rather would I be alone in this dreadful solitude
+for a thousand years than have you, Edgar, for company. For I have not
+now one thought or memory of you in my soul that is not bitter. It is
+true that I once loved you: even before I saw your face I loved you, and
+said in my heart that we two were destined to be one. And my love
+increased when we were united, and you gave me my heart's desire--the
+power I loved, and glory in the sight of the world. And although in my
+heart I laughed at your pretended zeal for a pure religion while you
+were gratifying your lower desires and chasing after fair women all over
+the land, I admired and gloried in your nobler qualities, your activity
+and vigilance in keeping the peace within your borders, and in making
+England master of the seas, so that the pirate kings of the North
+ventured not to approach our shores. But on your own gross appetites you
+would put no restraint, but gave yourself up to wine and gluttony and
+made a companion of Death, even in the flower of your age you were
+playing with Death, and when you had lived but half your years you rode
+away with Death and left me alone; you, Edgar, the mighty hunter and
+slayer of wolves, you rode away and left me to the wolves, alone, in a
+dark forest. Therefore the guilt of Edward's death is yours more than
+mine, though my soul is stained red with his blood, seeing that you left
+me to fight alone, and in my madness, not knowing what I did, I stained
+myself with this crime.
+
+But what you have done to me is of little moment, seeing that mine is
+but one soul of the many thousands that were given into your keeping,
+and your crime in wasting your life for the sake of base pleasures was
+committed against an entire nation, and not of the living only but also
+the great and glorious dead of the race of Cerdic--of the men who have
+laboured these many centuries, shedding their blood on a hundred
+stricken fields, to build up this kingdom of England; and when their
+mighty work was completed it was given into your hands to keep and
+guard. And you died and abandoned it; Death, your playmate, has taken
+you away, and Edgar's peace is no more. Now your ships are scattered or
+sunk in the sea, now the invaders are again on your coasts as in the old
+dreadful days, burning and slaying, and want is everywhere and fear is
+in all hearts throughout the land. And the king, your son, who inherited
+your beautiful face and nought beside except your vices and whatever was
+least worthy of a king, he too is now taking his pleasure, even as you
+took yours, in a gay bejewelled dress, with some shameless woman at his
+side and a wine-cup in his hand. O unhappy mother that I am, that I must
+curse the day a son was born to me! O grief immitigable that it was my
+deed, my dreadful deed, that raised him to the throne--the throne that
+was Alfred's and Edmund's and Athelstan's!
+
+These were the thoughts that were her only company as she sat brooding
+before her winter fire, day after day, and winter following winter,
+while the years deepened the lines of anguish on her face and whitened
+the hair that was once red gold.
+
+But in the summer time she was less unhappy, for then she could spend
+the long hours out of doors under the sky in the large shaded gardens of
+the convent with the stream for boundary on the lower side. This stream
+had now become more to her than in the old days when, languishing in
+solitude, she had made it a companion and confidant. For now it had
+become associated in her mind with the image of the maid Editha, and
+when she sat again at the old spot on the bank gazing on the swift
+crystal current, then dipping her hand in it and putting the wetted hand
+to her lips, the stream and Editha were one.
+
+Then one day she was missed, and for a long time they sought for her all
+through the building and in the grounds without finding her. Then the
+seekers heard a loud cry, and saw one of the nuns running towards the
+convent door, with her hands pressed to her face as if to shut out some
+dreadful sight; and when they called to her she pointed back towards the
+stream and ran on to the house. Then all the sisters who were out in the
+grounds hurried down to the stream to the spot where Elfrida was
+accustomed to sit, and were horrified to see her lying drowned in the
+water.
+
+It was a hot, dry summer and the stream was low, and in stooping to dip
+her hand in the water she had lost her balance and fallen in, and
+although the water was but three feet deep she had in her feebleness
+been unable to save herself. She was lying on her back on the clearly
+seen bed of many-coloured pebbles, her head pointing downstream, and the
+swift fretting current had carried away her hood and pulled out her long
+abundant silver-white hair, and the current played with her hair, now
+pulling it straight out, then spreading it wide over the surface, mixing
+its silvery threads with the hair-like green blades of the floating
+water-grass. And the dead face was like marble; but the wide-open eyes
+that had never wholly lost their brilliance and the beautiful lungwort
+blue colour were like living eyes--living and gazing through the
+crystal-clear running water at the group of nuns staring down with
+horror-struck faces at her.
+
+Thus ended Elfrida's darkened life; nor did it seem an unfit end; for it
+was as if she had fallen into the arms of the maiden who had in her
+thoughts become one with the stream--the saintly Editha through whose
+sacrifice and intercession she had been saved from death everlasting.
+
+
+
+
+AN OLD THORN
+
+
+[Illustration: HAWTHORN AND IVY NEAR THE GREAT RIDGE WOOD.]
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+The little village of Ingden lies in a hollow of the South Wiltshire
+Downs, the most isolated of the villages in that lonely district. Its
+one short street is crossed at right angles in the middle part by the
+Salisbury road, and standing just at that point, the church on one hand,
+the old inn on the other, you can follow it with the eye for a distance
+of nearly three miles. First it goes winding up the low down under which
+the village stands, then vanishes over the brow to reappear again a mile
+and a half further away as a white band on the vast green slope of the
+succeeding down, which rises to a height of over 600 feet. On the summit
+it vanishes once more, but those who use it know it for a laborious road
+crossing several high ridges before dropping down into the valley road
+leading to Salisbury.
+
+When, standing in the village street, your eye travels up that white
+band, you can distinctly make out even at that distance a small,
+solitary tree standing near the summit--an old thorn with an ivy growing
+on it. My walks were often that way, and invariably on coming to that
+point I would turn twenty yards aside from the road to spend half an
+hour seated on the turf near or under the old tree. These half-hours
+were always grateful; and conscious that the tree drew me to it I
+questioned myself as to the reason. It was, I told myself, nothing but
+mental curiosity: my interest was a purely scientific one. For how comes
+it, I asked, that a thorn can grow to a tree and live to a great age in
+such a situation, on a vast, naked down, where for many centuries,
+perhaps for thousands of years, the herbage has been so closely fed by
+sheep as to have the appearance of a carpet, or newly mown lawn? The
+seed is carried and scattered everywhere by the birds, but no sooner
+does it germinate and send up a shoot than it is eaten down to the
+roots; for there is no scent that attracts a sheep more, no flavour it
+has greater taste for, than that of any forest seedling springing up
+amidst the minute herbaceous plants which carpet the downs. The thorn,
+like other organisms, has its own unconscious intelligence and cunning,
+by means of which it endeavours to save itself and fulfil its life. It
+opens its first tender leaves under the herbage, and at the same time
+thrusts up a vertical spine to wound the nibbling mouth; and no sooner
+has it got a leaf or two and a spine than it spreads its roots all
+round, and from each of them springs a fresh shoot, leaves and
+protecting spine, to increase the chances of preservation. In vain! the
+cunning animal finds a way to defeat all this strategy, and after the
+leaves have been bitten off again and again, the infant plant gives up
+the struggle and dies in the ground. Yet we see that from time to time
+one survives--one perhaps in a million; but how--whether by a quicker
+growth or a harder or more poisonous thorn, an unpalatable leaf, or some
+other secret agency--we cannot guess. First as a diminutive scrubby
+shrub, with numerous iron-hard stems, with few and small leaves but many
+thorns, it keeps its poor flowerless frustrate life for perhaps half a
+century or longer, without growing more than a couple of feet high; and
+then, as by a miracle, it will spring up until its top shoots are out of
+reach of the browsing sheep, and in the end it becomes a tree with
+spreading branches and fully developed leaves, and flowers and fruit in
+their season.
+
+One day I was visited by an artist from a distance who, when shown the
+thorn, pronounced it a fine subject for his pencil, and while he made
+his picture we talked about the hawthorn generally as compared with
+other trees, and agreed that, except in its blossoming time when it is
+merely pretty, it is the most engaging and perhaps the most beautiful of
+our native trees. We said that it was the most _individual_ of trees,
+that its variety was infinite, for you never find two alike, whether
+growing in a forest, in groups, or masses, or alone. We were almost
+lyrical in its praises. But the solitary thorn was always best, he said,
+and this one was perhaps the best of all he had seen: strange and at the
+same time decorative in its form, beautiful too in its appearance of
+great age with unimpaired vigour and something more in its
+expression--that elusive something which we find in some trees and don't
+know how to explain.
+
+Ah, yes, thought I, it was this appeal to the aesthetic faculty which
+attracted me from the first, and not, as I had imagined, the mere
+curiosity of the naturalist interested mainly and always in the _habits_
+of living things, plant or animal.
+
+Certainly the thorn had strangeness. Its appearance as to height was
+deceptive; one would have guessed it eighteen feet; measuring it I was
+surprised to find it only ten. It has four separate boles, springing
+from one root, leaning a little away from each other, the thickest just
+a foot in circumference. The branches are few, beginning at about five
+feet from the ground, the foliage thin, the leaves throughout the summer
+stained with grey, rust-red, and purple colour. Though so small and
+exposed to the full fury of every wind that blows over that vast naked
+down, it has yet an ivy growing on it--the strangest of the many strange
+ivy-plants I have seen. It comes out of the ground as two ivy trunks on
+opposite sides of the stoutest bole, but at a height of four feet from
+the surface the two join and ascend the tree as one round iron-coloured
+and iron-hard stem, which goes curving and winding snakewise among the
+branches as if with the object of roping them to save them from being
+torn off by the winds. Finally, rising to the top, the long serpent stem
+opens out in a flat disc-shaped mass of close-packed branchlets and
+twigs densely set with small round leaves, dark dull green and tough as
+parchment. One could only suppose that thorn and ivy had been partners
+from the beginning of life, and that the union was equally advantageous
+to both.
+
+The small ivy disc or platform on top of the tree was a favourite stand
+and look-out for the downland birds. I seldom visited the spot without
+disturbing some of them, now a little company of missel-thrushes, now a
+crowd of starlings, then perhaps a dozen rooks, crowded together,
+looking very big and conspicuous on their little platform.
+
+Being curious to find out something about the age of the tree, I
+determined to put the question to my old friend Malachi, aged
+eighty-nine, who was born and had always lived in the parish and had
+known the downs and probably every tree growing on them for miles around
+from his earliest years. It was my custom to drop in of an evening and
+sit with him, listening to his endless reminiscences of his young days.
+That evening I spoke of the thorn, describing its position and
+appearance, thinking that perhaps he had forgotten it. How long, I asked
+him, had the thorn been there?
+
+He was one of those men, usually of the labouring class, to be met with
+in such lonely, out-of-the-world places as the Wiltshire Downs, whose
+eyes never look old however many their years may be, and are more like
+the eyes of a bird or animal than a human being, for they gaze at you
+and through you when you speak without appearing to know what you say.
+So it was on this occasion; he looked straight at me with no sign of
+understanding, no change in his clear grey eyes, and answered nothing.
+But I would not be put off, and when, raising my voice, I repeated the
+question, he replied, after another interval of silence, that the thorn
+"was never any different." 'Twas just the same, ivy and all, when he
+were a small boy. It looked just so old; why, he remembered his old
+father saying the same thing--'twas the same when he were a boy, and
+'twas the same in his father's time. Then anxious to escape from the
+subject he began talking of something else.
+
+It struck me that after all the most interesting thing about the thorn
+was its appearance of great age, and this aspect I had now been told had
+continued for at least a century, probably for a much longer time. It
+produced a reverent feeling in me such as we experience at the sight of
+some ancient stone monument. But the tree was alive, and because of its
+life the feeling was perhaps stronger than in the case of a granite
+cross or cromlech or other memorial of antiquity.
+
+Sitting by the thorn one day it occurred to me that, growing at this
+spot close to the road and near the summit of that vast down, numberless
+persons travelling to and from Salisbury must have turned aside to rest
+on the turf in the shade after that laborious ascent or before beginning
+the long descent to the valley below. Travellers of all conditions, on
+foot or horseback, in carts and carriages, merchants, bagmen, farmers,
+drovers, gipsies, tramps and vagrants of all descriptions, and from time
+to time troops of soldiers. Yet never one of them had injured the tree
+in any way! I could not remember ever finding a tree growing alone by
+the roadside in a lonely place which had not the marks of many old and
+new wounds inflicted on its trunk with knives, hatchets, and other
+implements. Here not a mark, not a scratch had been made on any one of
+its four trunks or on the ivy stem by any thoughtless or mischievous
+person, nor had any branch been cut or broken off. Why had they one and
+all respected this tree?
+
+It was another subject to talk to Malachi about, and to him I went after
+tea and found him with three of his neighbours sitting by the fire and
+talking; for though it was summer the old man always had a fire in the
+evening.
+
+They welcomed and made room for me, but I had no sooner broached the
+subject in my mind than they all fell into silence, then after a brief
+interval the three callers began to discuss some little village matter.
+I was not going to be put off in that way, and, leaving them out, went
+on talking to Malachi about the tree. Presently one by one the three
+visitors got up and, remarking that it was time to be going, they took
+their departure.
+
+The old man could not escape nor avoid listening, and in the end had to
+say something. He said he didn't know nothing about all them tramps and
+gipsies and other sorts of men who had sat by the tree; all he knowed
+was that the old thorn had been a good thorn to him--first and last. He
+remembered once when he was a young man, not yet twenty, he went to do
+some work at a village five miles away, and being winter time he left
+early, about four o'clock, to walk home over the downs. He had just got
+married, and had promised his wife to be home for tea at six o'clock.
+But a thick fog came up over the downs, and soon as it got dark he lost
+himself. 'Twas the darkest, thickest night he had ever been out in; and
+whenever he came against a bank or other obstruction he would get down
+on his hands and knees and feel it up and down to get its shape and find
+out what it was, for he knew all the marks on his native downs; 'twas
+all in vain--nothing could he recognise. In this way he wandered about
+for hours, and was in despair of getting home that night, when all at
+once there came a sense of relief, a feeling that it was all right, that
+something was guiding him.
+
+I remarked that I knew what that meant: he had lost his sense of
+direction and had now all at once recovered it; such a thing had often
+happened; I once had such an experience myself.
+
+No, it was not that, he returned. He had not gone a dozen steps from the
+moment that sense of confidence came to him, before he ran into a tree,
+and feeling the trunk with his hands he recognised it as the old thorn
+and knew where he was. In a couple of minutes he was on the road, and in
+less than an hour, just about midnight, he was safe at home.
+
+No more could I get out of him, at all events on that occasion; nor did
+I ever succeed in extracting any further personal experience in spite of
+his having let out that the thorn had been a good thorn to him, first
+and last. I had, however, heard enough to satisfy me that I had at
+length discovered the real secret of the tree's fascination. I recalled
+other trees which had similarly affected me, and how, long years ago,
+when a good deal of my time was spent on horseback, whenever I found
+myself in a certain district I would go miles out of my way just to look
+at a solitary old tree growing in a lonely place, and to sit for an hour
+to refresh myself, body and soul, in its shade. I had indeed all along
+suspected the thorn of being one of this order of mysterious trees; and
+from other experiences I had met with, one some years ago in a village
+in this same county of Wilts, I had formed the opinion that in many
+persons the sense of a strange intelligence and possibility of power in
+such trees is not a mere transitory state but an enduring influence
+which profoundly affects their whole lives.
+
+Determined to find out something more, I went to other villagers, mostly
+women, who are more easily disarmed and made to believe that you too
+know and are of the same mind with them, being under the same mysterious
+power and spell. In this way, laying many a subtle snare, I succeeded in
+eliciting a good deal of information. It was, however, mostly of a kind
+which could not profitably be used in any inquiry into the subject; it
+simply went to show that the feeling existed and was strong in many of
+the villagers. During this inquiry I picked up several anecdotes about a
+person who lived in Ingden close upon three generations ago, and was
+able to piece them together so as to make a consistent narrative of his
+life. This was Johnnie Budd, a farm labourer, who came to his end in
+1821, a year or so before my old friend Malachi was born. It is going
+very far back, but there were circumstances in his life which made a
+deep impression on the mind of that little community, and the story had
+lived on through all these years.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+Johnnie had fallen on hard times when in an exceptionally severe winter
+season he with others had been thrown out of employment at the farm
+where he worked; then with a wife and three small children to keep he
+had in his desperation procured food for them one dark night in an
+adjacent field. But alas! one of the little ones playing in the road
+with some of her companions, who were all very hungry, let it out that
+she wasn't hungry, that for three days she had had as much nice meat as
+she wanted to eat! Play over, the hungry little ones flew home to tell
+their parents the wonderful news--why didn't they have nice meat like
+Tilly Budd, instead of a piece of rye bread without even dripping on it,
+when they were so hungry? Much talk followed, and spread from cottage to
+cottage until it reached the constable's ears, and he, already informed
+of the loss of a wether taken from its fold close by, went straight to
+Johnnie and charged him with the offence. Johnnie lost his head, and
+dropping on his knees confessed his guilt and begged his old friend
+Lampard to have mercy on him and to overlook it for the sake of his wife
+and children.
+
+It was his first offence, but when he was taken from the lock-up at the
+top of the village street to be conveyed to Salisbury, his friends and
+neighbours who had gathered at the spot to witness his removal shook
+their heads and doubted that Ingden would ever see him again. The
+confession had made the case so simple a one that he had at once been
+committed to take his trial at the Salisbury Assizes, and as the time
+was near the constable had been ordered to convey the prisoner to the
+town himself. Accordingly he engaged old Joe Blaskett, called Daddy in
+the village, to take them in his pony cart. Daddy did not want the job,
+but was talked or bullied into it, and there he now sat in his cart,
+waiting in glum silence for his passengers; a bent old man of eighty,
+with a lean, grey, bitter face, in his rusty cloak, his old rabbit-skin
+cap drawn down over his ears, his white disorderly beard scattered over
+his chest. The constable Lampard was a big, powerful man, with a great
+round, good-natured face, but just now he had a strong sense of
+responsibility, and to make sure of not losing his prisoner he
+handcuffed him before bringing him out and helping him to take his seat
+on the bottom of the cart. Then he got up himself to his seat by the
+driver's side; the last good-bye was spoken, the weeping wife being
+gently led away by her friends, and the cart rattled away down the
+street. Turning into the Salisbury road it was soon out of sight over
+the near down, but half an hour later it emerged once more into sight
+beyond the great dip, and the villagers who had remained standing about
+at the same spot watched it crawling like a beetle up the long white
+road on the slope of the vast down beyond.
+
+Johnnie was now lying coiled up on his rug, his face hidden between his
+arms, abandoned to grief, sobbing aloud. Lampard, sitting athwart the
+seat so as to keep an eye on him, burst out at last: "Be a man, Johnnie,
+and stop your crying! 'Tis making things no better by taking on like
+that. What do you say, Daddy?"
+
+"I say nought," snapped the old man, and for a while they proceeded in
+silence except for those heartrending sobs. As they approached the old
+thorn tree, near the top of the long slope, Johnnie grew more and more
+agitated, his whole frame shaking with his sobbing. Again the constable
+rebuked him, telling him that 'twas a shame for a man to go on like
+that. Then with an effort he restrained his sobs, and lifting a red,
+swollen, tear-stained face he stammered out: "Master Lampard, did I ever
+ask 'ee a favour in my life?"
+
+"What be after now?" said the other suspiciously. "Well, no, Johnnie,
+not as I remember."
+
+"An' do 'ee think I'll ever come back home again, Master Lampard?"
+
+"Maybe no, maybe yes; 'tis not for me to say."
+
+"But 'ee knows 'tis a hanging matter?"
+
+"'Tis that for sure. But you be a young man with a wife and childer, and
+have never done no wrong before--not that I ever heard say. Maybe the
+judge'll recommend you to mercy. What do you say, Daddy?"
+
+The old man only made some inarticulate sounds in his beard, without
+turning his head.
+
+"But, Master Lampard, suppose I don't swing, they'll send I over the
+water and I'll never see the wife and children no more."
+
+"Maybe so; I'm thinking that's how 'twill be."
+
+"Then will 'ee do me a kindness? 'Tis the only one I ever asked 'ee, and
+there'll be no chance to ask 'ee another."
+
+"I can't say, Johnnie, not till I know what 'tis you want."
+
+"'Tis only this, Master Lampard. When we git to th' old thorn let me out
+o' the cart and let me stand under it one minnit and no more."
+
+"Be you wanting to hang yourself before the trial then?" said the
+constable, trying to make a joke of it.
+
+"I couldn't do that," said Johnnie, simply, "seeing my hands be fast and
+you'd be standing by."
+
+"No, no, Johnnie, 'tis nought but just foolishness. What do you say,
+Daddy?"
+
+The old man turned round with a look of sudden rage in his grey face
+which startled Lampard; but he said nothing, he only opened and shut his
+mouth two or three times without a sound.
+
+Meanwhile the pony had been going slower and slower for the last thirty
+or forty yards, and now when they were abreast of the tree stood still.
+
+"What be stopping for?" cried Lampard. "Get on--get on, or we'll never
+get to Salisbury this day."
+
+Then at length old Blaskett found a voice.
+
+"Does thee know what thee's saying, Master Lampard, or be thee a
+stranger in this parish?"
+
+"What d'ye mean, Daddy? I be no stranger; I've a-known this parish and
+known 'ee these nine years."
+
+"Thee asked why I stopped when 'twas the pony stopped, knowing where
+we'd got to. But thee's not born here or thee'd a-known what a hoss
+knows. An' since 'ee asks what I says, I say this, 'twill not hurt 'ee
+to let Johnnie Budd stand one minute by the tree."
+
+Feeling insulted and puzzled the constable was about to assert his
+authority when he was arrested by Johnnie's cry, "Oh, Master Lampard,
+'tis my last hope!" and by the sight of the agony of suspense on his
+swollen face. After a short hesitation he swung himself out over the
+side of the cart, and letting down the tailboard laid rough hands on
+Johnnie and half helped, half dragged him out.
+
+They were quickly by the tree, where Johnnie stood silent with downcast
+eyes a few moments; then dropping upon his knees leant his face against
+the bark, his eyes closed, his lips murmuring.
+
+"Time's up!" cried Lampard presently, and taking him by the collar
+pulled him to his feet; in a couple of minutes more they were in the
+cart and on their way.
+
+It was grey weather, very cold, with an east wind blowing, but for the
+rest of that dreary thirteen-miles journey Johnnie was very quiet and
+submissive and shed no more tears.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+What had been his motive in wishing to stand by the tree? What did he
+expect when he said it was his last hope? During the way up the long,
+laborious slope, an incident of his early years in connection with the
+tree had been in his mind, and had wrought on him until it culminated in
+that passionate outburst and his strange request. It was when he was a
+boy, not quite ten years old, that, one afternoon in the summer time, he
+went with other children to look for wild raspberries on the summit of
+the great down. Johnnie, being the eldest, was the leader of the little
+band. On the way back from the brambly place where the fruit grew, on
+approaching the thorn, they spied a number of rooks sitting on it, and
+it came into Johnnie's mind that it would be great fun to play at crows
+by sitting on the branches as near the top as they could get. Running
+on, with cries that sent the rooks cawing away, they began swarming up
+the trunks, but in the midst of their frolic, when they were all
+struggling for the best places on the branches, they were startled by a
+shout, and looking up to the top of the down, saw a man on horseback
+coming towards them at a gallop, shaking a whip in anger as he rode.
+Instantly they began scrambling down, falling over each other in their
+haste, then, picking themselves up, set off down the slope as fast as
+they could run. Johnnie was foremost, while close behind him came Marty,
+who was nearly the same age and, though a girl, almost as swift-footed,
+but before going fifty yards she struck her foot against an ant-hill and
+was thrown violently, face down, on the turf. Johnnie turned at her cry
+and flew back to help her up, but the shock of the fall, and her extreme
+terror, had deprived her for the moment of all strength, and while he
+struggled to raise her, the smaller children, one by one, overtook and
+passed them, and in another moment the man was off his horse, standing
+over them.
+
+"Do you want a good thrashing?" he said, grasping Johnnie by the collar.
+
+"Oh, sir; please don't hit me!" answered Johnnie; then looking up he was
+astonished to see that his captor was not the stern old farmer, the
+tenant of the down, he had taken him for, but a stranger and a
+strange-looking man, in a dark grey cloak with a red collar. He had a
+pointed beard and long black hair and dark eyes that were not evil yet
+frightened Johnnie, when he caught them gazing down on him.
+
+"No, I'll not thrash you," said he, "because you stayed to help the
+little maiden, but I'll tell you something for your good about the tree
+you and your little mates have been climbing, bruising the bark with
+your heels and breaking off leaves and twigs. Do you know, boy, that if
+you hurt it, it will hurt you? It stands fast here with its roots in the
+ground and you--you can go away from it, you think. 'Tis not so;
+something will come out of it and follow you wherever you go and hurt
+and break you at last. But if you make it a friend and care for it, it
+will care for you and give you happiness and deliver you from evil."
+
+Then touching Johnnie's cheeks with his gloved hand he got on his horse
+and rode away, and no sooner was he gone than Marty started up, and hand
+in hand the two children set off at a run down the long slope.
+
+Johnnie's playtime was nearly over then, for by and by he was taken as
+farmer's boy at one of the village farms. When he was nineteen years
+old, one Sunday evening, when standing in the road with other young
+people of the village, youths and girls, it was powerfully borne on his
+mind that his old playmate Marty was not only the prettiest and best
+girl in the place, but that she had something which set her apart and
+far, far above all other women. For now, after having known her
+intimately from his first years, he had suddenly fallen in love with
+her, a feeling which caused him to shiver in a kind of ecstasy, yet made
+him miserable, since it had purged his sight and made him see, too, how
+far apart they were and how hopeless his case. It was true they had been
+comrades from childhood, fond of each other, but she had grown and
+developed until she had become that most bright and lovely being, while
+he had remained the same slow-witted, awkward, almost inarticulate
+Johnnie he had always been. This feeling preyed on his poor mind, and
+when he joined the evening gathering in the village street he noted
+bitterly how contemptuously he was left out of the conversation by the
+others, how incapable he was of keeping pace with them in their laughing
+talk and banter. And, worst of all, how Marty was the leading spirit,
+bandying words and bestowing smiles and pleasantries all round, but
+never a word or a smile for him. He could not endure it, and so instead
+of smartening himself up after work and going for company to the village
+street, he would walk down the secluded lane near the farm to spend the
+hour before supper and bedtime sitting on a gate, brooding on his
+misery; and if by chance he met Marty in the village he would try to
+avoid her, and was silent and uncomfortable in her presence.
+
+After work, one hot summer evening, Johnnie was walking along the road
+near the farm in his working clothes, clay-coloured boots, and old dusty
+hat, when who should he see but Marty coming towards him, looking very
+sweet and fresh in her light-coloured print gown. He looked to this side
+and that for some friendly gap or opening in the hedge so as to take
+himself out of the road, but there was no way of escape at that spot,
+and he had to pass her, and so casting down his eyes he walked on,
+wishing he could sink into the earth out of her sight. But she would not
+allow him to pass; she put herself directly in his way and spoke.
+
+"What's the matter with 'ee, Johnnie, that 'ee don't want to meet me and
+hardly say a word when I speak to 'ee?"
+
+He could not find a word in reply; he stood still, his face crimson, his
+eyes on the ground.
+
+"Johnnie, dear, what is it?" she asked, coming closer and putting her
+hand on his arm.
+
+Then he looked up, and seeing the sweet compassion in her eyes, he could
+no longer keep the secret of his pain from her.
+
+"'Tis 'ee, Marty," he said. "Thee'll never want I--there's others 'ee'll
+like better. 'Tisn't for I to say a word about that, I'm thinking, for I
+be--just nothing. An'--an'--I be going away from the village, Marty, and
+I'll never come back no more."
+
+"Oh, Johnnie, don't 'ee say it! Would 'ee go and break my heart? Don't
+'ee know I've always loved 'ee since we were little mites together?"
+
+And thus it came about that Johnnie, most miserable of men, was all at
+once made happy beyond his wildest dreams. And he proved himself worthy
+of her; from that time there was not a more diligent and sober young
+labourer in the village, nor one of a more cheerful disposition, nor
+more careful of his personal appearance when, the day's work done, the
+young people had their hour of social intercourse and courting. Yet he
+was able to put by a portion of his weekly wages of six shillings to buy
+sticks, so that when spring came round again he was able to marry and
+take Marty to live with him in his own cottage.
+
+One Sunday afternoon, shortly after this happy event, they went out for
+a walk on the high down.
+
+"Oh, Johnnie, 'tis a long time since we were here together, not since we
+used to come and play and look for cowslips when we were little."
+
+Johnnie laughed with pure joy and said they would just be children and
+play again, now they were alone and out of sight of the village; and
+when she smiled up at him he rejoiced to think that his union with this
+perfect girl was producing a happy effect on his poor brains, making him
+as bright and ready with a good reply as any one. And in their happiness
+they played at being children just as in the old days they had played at
+being grown-ups. Casting themselves down on the green, elastic,
+flower-sprinkled turf, they rolled one after the other down the smooth
+slopes of the terrace, the old "shepherd's steps," and by and by
+Johnnie, coming upon a patch of creeping thyme, rubbed his hands in the
+pale purple flowers, then rubbed her face to make it fragrant.
+
+"Oh, 'tis sweet!" she cried. "Did 'ee ever see so many little flowers on
+the down?--'tis as if they came out just for us." Then, indicating the
+tiny milkwort faintly sprinkling the turf all about them, "Oh, the
+little blue darlings! Did 'ee ever see such a dear blue?"
+
+"Oh, aye, a prettier blue nor that," said Johnnie. "'Tis just here,
+Marty," and pressing her down he kissed her on the eyelids a dozen
+times.
+
+"You silly Johnnie!"
+
+"Be I silly, Marty? but I love the red too," and with that he kissed her
+on the mouth. "And, Marty, I do love the red on the breasties too--won't
+'ee let me have just one kiss there?"
+
+And she, to please him, opened her dress a little way, but blushingly,
+though she was his wife and nobody was there to see, but it seemed
+strange to her out of doors with the sun overhead. Oh, 'twas all
+delicious! Never was earth so heavenly sweet as on that wide green down,
+sprinkled with innumerable little flowers, under the wide blue sky and
+the all-illuminating sun that shone into their hearts!
+
+At length, rising to her knees and looking up the green slope, she cried
+out: "Oh, Johnnie, there's the old thorn tree! Do 'ee remember when we
+played at crows on it and had such a fright? 'Twas the last time we came
+here together. Come, let's go to the old tree and see how it looks now."
+
+Johnnie all at once became grave, and said No, he wouldn't go to it for
+anything. She was curious and made him tell her the reason. He had never
+forgotten that day and the fear that came into his mind on account of
+the words the strange man had spoken. She didn't know what the words
+were; she had been too frightened to listen, and so he had to tell her.
+
+"Then, 'tis a wishing-tree for sure," Marty exclaimed. When he asked her
+what a wishing-tree was, she could only say that her old grandmother,
+now dead, had told her. 'Tis a tree that knows us and can do us good and
+harm, but will do good only to some; but they must go to it and ask for
+its protection, and they must offer it something as well as pray to it.
+It must be something bright--a little jewel or coloured bead is best,
+and if you haven't got such a thing, a bright-coloured ribbon, or strip
+of scarlet cloth or silk thread--which you must tie to one of the twigs.
+
+"But we hurted the tree, Marty, and 'twill do no good to we."
+
+They were both grave now; then a hopeful thought came to her aid. They
+had not hurt the tree intentionally; the tree knew that--it knew more
+than any human being. They might go and stand side by side under its
+branches and ask it to forgive them, and grant them all their desires.
+But they must not go empty-handed, they must have some bright thing with
+them when making their prayer. Then she had a fresh inspiration. She
+would take a lock of her own bright hair, and braid it with some of his,
+and tie it with a piece of scarlet thread.
+
+Johnnie was pleased with this idea, and they agreed to take another
+Sunday afternoon walk and carry out their plan.
+
+The projected walk was never taken, for by and by Marty's mother fell
+ill, and Marty had to be with her, nursing her night and day. And months
+went by, and at length, when her mother died, she was not in a fit
+condition to go long walks and climb those long, steep slopes. After the
+child was born, it was harder than ever to leave the house, and Johnnie,
+too, had so much work at the farm that he had little inclination to go
+out on Sundays. They ceased to speak of the tree, and their
+long-projected pilgrimage was impracticable until they could see better
+days. But the wished time never came, for, after the first child, Marty
+was never strong. Then a second child came, then a third; and so five
+years went by, of toil and suffering and love, and the tree, with all
+their hopes and fears and intentions regarding it, was less and less in
+their minds, and was all but forgotten. Only Johnnie, when at long
+intervals his master sent him to Salisbury with the cart, remembered it
+all only too well when, coming to the top of the down, he saw the old
+thorn directly before him. Passing it, he would turn his face away not
+to see it too closely, or, perhaps, to avoid being recognised by it.
+Then came the time of their extreme poverty, when there was no work at
+the farm and no one of their own people to help tide them over a season
+of scarcity, for the old people were dead or in the workhouse or so poor
+as to want help themselves. It was then that, in his misery at the sight
+of his ailing anxious wife--the dear Marty of the beautiful vanished
+days--and his three little hungry children, that he went out into the
+field one dark night to get them food.
+
+The whole sad history was in his mind as they slowly crawled up the
+hill, until it came to him that perhaps all their sufferings and this
+great disaster had been caused by the tree--by that something from the
+tree which had followed him, never resting in its mysterious enmity
+until it broke him. Was it too late to repair that terrible mistake? A
+gleam of hope shone on his darkened mind, and he made his passionate
+appeal to the constable. He had no offering--his hands were powerless
+now; but at least he could stand by it and touch it with his body and
+face and pray for its forgiveness, and for deliverance from the doom
+which threatened him. The constable had compassionately, or from some
+secret motive, granted his request; but alas! if in very truth the power
+he had come to believe in resided in the tree, he was too late in
+seeking it.
+
+The trial was soon over; by pleading guilty Johnnie had made it a very
+simple matter for the court. The main thing was to sentence him. By an
+unhappy chance the judge was in one of his occasional bad moods; he had
+been entertained too well by one of the local magnates on the previous
+evening and had sat late, drinking too much wine, with the result that
+he had a bad liver, with a mind to match it. He was only too ready to
+seize the first opportunity that offered--and poor Johnnie's case was
+the first that morning--of exercising the awful power a barbarous law
+had put into his hands. When the prisoner's defender declared that this
+was a case which called loudly for mercy, the judge interrupted him to
+say that he was taking too much upon himself, that he was, in fact,
+instructing the judge in his duties, which was a piece of presumption on
+his part. The other was quick to make a humble apology and to bring his
+perfunctory address to a conclusion. The judge, in addressing the
+prisoner, said he had been unable to discover any extenuating
+circumstances in the case. The fact that he had a wife and family
+dependent on him only added to his turpitude, since it proved that no
+consideration could serve to deter him from a criminal act. Furthermore,
+in dealing with this case, he must take into account the prevalence of
+this particular form of crime; he would venture to say that it had been
+encouraged by an extreme leniency in many cases on the part of those
+whose sacred duty it was to administer the law of the land. A sterner
+and healthier spirit was called for at the present juncture. The time
+had come to make an example, and a more suitable case than the one now
+before him could not have been found for such a purpose. He would
+accordingly hold out no hope of a reprieve, but would counsel prisoner
+to make the best use of the short time remaining to him.
+
+Johnnie standing in the dock appeared to the spectators to be in a
+half-dazed condition--as dull and spiritless a clodhopper as they had
+ever beheld. The judge and barristers, in their wigs and robes and
+gowns, were unlike any human beings he had ever looked on. He might have
+been transported to some other world, so strange did the whole scene
+appear to him. He only knew, or surmised, that all these important
+people were occupied in doing him to death, but the process, the meaning
+of their fine phrases, he could not follow. He looked at them, his
+glazed eyes travelling from face to face, to be fixed finally on the
+judge, in a vacant stare; but he scarcely saw them, he was all the time
+gazing on, and his mind occupied with, other forms and scenes invisible
+to the court. His village, his Marty, his dear little playmate of long
+ago, the sweet girl he had won, the wife and mother of his children,
+with her white, terrified face, clinging to him and crying in anguish:
+"Oh, Johnnie, what will they do to 'ee?" And all the time, with it all,
+he saw the vast green slope of the down, with the Salisbury road lying
+like a narrow white band across it, and close to it, near the summit,
+the solitary old tree.
+
+During the delivery of the sentence, and when he was led from the dock
+and conveyed back to the prison, that image or vision was still present.
+He sat staring at the wall of his cell as he had stared at the judge,
+the fatal tree still before him. Never before had he seen it in that
+vivid way in which it appeared to him now, standing alone on the vast
+green down, under the wide sky, its four separate boles leaning a little
+way from each other, like the middle ribs of an open fan, holding up the
+widespread branches, the thin, open foliage, the green leaves stained
+with rusty brown and purple; and the ivy, rising like a slender black
+serpent of immense length, springing from the roots, winding upwards,
+and in and out, among the grey branches, binding them together, and
+resting its round, dark cluster of massed leaves on the topmost boughs.
+That green disc was the ivy-serpent's flat head and was the head of the
+whole tree, and there it had its eyes, which gazed for ever over the
+wide downs, watching all living things, cattle and sheep and birds and
+men in their comings and goings; and although fast-rooted in the earth,
+following them, too, in all their ways, even as it had followed him, to
+break him at last.
+
+
+
+
+POSTSCRIPT
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+DEAD MAN'S PLACK
+
+
+One of my literary friends, who has looked at the Dead Man's Plack in
+manuscript, has said by way of criticism that Elfrida's character is
+veiled. I am not to blame for that; for have I not already said, by
+implication at all events, in the Preamble, that my knowledge of her
+comes from outside. Something, or, more likely, _Somebody_, gave me her
+history, and it has occurred to me that this same Somebody was no such
+obscurity as, let us say, the Monk John of Glastonbury, who told the
+excavators just where to look for the buried chapel of Edgar, king and
+_saint_. I suspect that my informant was some one who knew more about
+Elfrida than any mere looker-on, monk or nun, and gossip-gatherer of her
+own distant day; and this suspicion or surmise was suggested by the
+following incident:
+
+After haunting Dead Man's Plack, where I had my vision, I rambled in and
+about Wherwell on account of its association, and in one of the cottages
+in the village I became acquainted with an elderly widow, a woman in
+feeble health, but singularly attractive in her person and manner.
+Indeed, before making her acquaintance I had been informed by some of
+her relations and others in the place that she was not only the best
+person to seek information from, but was also the sweetest person in the
+village. She was a native born; her family had lived there for
+generations, and she was of that best South Hampshire type with an oval
+face, olive-brown skin, black eyes and hair, and that soft melancholy
+expression in the eyes common in Spanish women and not uncommon in the
+dark-skinned Hampshire women. She had been taught at the village school,
+and having attracted the attention and interest of the great lady of the
+place on account of her intelligence and pleasing manners, she was taken
+when quite young as lady's-maid, and in this employment continued for
+many years until her marriage to a villager.
+
+One day, conversing with her, I said I had heard that the village was
+haunted by the ghost of a woman: was that true?
+
+Yes, it was true, she returned.
+
+Did she _know_ that it was true? Had she actually seen the ghost?
+
+Yes, she had seen it once. One day, when she was lady's-maid, she was in
+her bedroom, dressing or doing something, with another maid. The door
+was closed, and they were in a merry mood, talking and laughing, when
+suddenly they both at the same moment saw a woman with a still, white
+face walking through the room. She was in the middle of the room when
+they caught sight of her, and they both screamed and covered their faces
+with their hands. So great was her terror that she almost fainted; then
+in a few moments when they looked the apparition had vanished. As to the
+habit she was wearing, neither of them could say afterwards what it was
+like: only the white, still face remained fixed in their memory, but the
+figure was a dark one, like a dark shadow moving rapidly through the
+room.
+
+If Elfrida then, albeit still in purgatory, is able to re-visit this
+scene of her early life and the site of that tragedy in the forest, it
+does not seem to me altogether improbable that she herself made the
+revelation I have written. And if this be so, it would account for the
+_veiled_ character conveyed in the narrative. For even after ten
+centuries it may well be that all the coverings have not yet been
+removed, that although she has been dropping them one by one for ages,
+she has not yet come to the end of them. Until the very last covering,
+or veil, or mist is removed, it would be impossible for her to be
+absolutely sincere, to reveal her inmost soul with all that is most
+dreadful in it. But when that time comes, from the very moment of its
+coming she would cease automatically to be an exiled and tormented
+spirit.
+
+If, then, Elfrida is herself responsible for the narrative, it is only
+natural that she does not appear in it quite as black as she has been
+painted. For the monkish chronicler was, we know, the Father of Lies,
+and so indeed in a measure are all historians and biographers, since
+they cannot see into hearts and motives or know all the circumstances of
+the case. And in this case they were painting the picture of their hated
+enemy and no doubt were not sparing in the use of the black pigment.
+
+To know all is to forgive all, is a good saying, and enables us to see
+why even the worst among us can always find it possible to forgive
+himself.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+AN OLD THORN
+
+
+I was pleased at this opportunity of rescuing this story from a far-back
+number of the _English Review_, in which it first appeared, and putting
+it in a book. It may be a shock to the reader to be brought down from a
+story of a great king and queen of England in the tenth century to the
+obscure annals of a yokel and his wife who lived in a Wiltshire village
+only a century ago; or even less, since my poor yokel was hanged for
+sheep-stealing in 1821. But it is, I think, worth preserving, since it
+is the only narrative I know of dealing with that rare and curious
+subject, the survival of tree-worship in our own country. That, however,
+was not the reason of my being pleased.
+
+It was just when I had finished writing the story of Elfrida that I
+happened to see in my morning paper a highly eulogistical paragraph
+about one of our long-dead and, I imagine, forgotten worthies. The
+occasion of the paragraph doesn't matter. The man eulogised was Mr.
+Justice Park--Sir James Allan Park, a highly successful barrister, who
+was judge from 1816 to his death in 1838. "As judge, though not eminent,
+he was sound, fair and sensible, a little irascible, but highly
+esteemed." He was also the author of a religious work. And that is all
+the particular Liar who wrote his biography in the D.N.B. can tell us
+about him.
+
+It was the newspaper paragraph which reminded me that I had written
+about this same judge, giving my estimate of his character in my book,
+_A Shepherd's Life_, also that I was _thinking_ about Park, the sound
+and fair and sensible judge, when I wrote "An Old Thorn." Here then,
+with apologies to the reader for quoting from my own book, I reproduce
+what I wrote in 1905.
+
+"From these memories of the old villagers I turn to the newspapers of
+the day to make a few citations.
+
+"The law as it was did not distinguish between a case of the kind just
+related, of the starving, sorely-tempted Shergold, and that of the
+systematic thief: sheep-stealing was a capital offence and the man must
+be hanged, unless recommended to mercy, and we know what was meant by
+'mercy' in those days. That so barbarous a law existed within memory of
+people to be found living in most villages appears almost incredible to
+us; but despite the recommendations to 'mercy' usual in a large majority
+of cases, the law of that time was not more horrible than the temper of
+the men who administered it. There are good and bad among all, and in
+all professions, but there is also a black spot in most, possibly all
+hearts, which may be developed to almost any extent, to change the
+justest, wisest, most moral men into 'human devils.' In reading the old
+reports and the expressions used by the judges in their summings-up and
+sentences, it is impossible not to believe that the awful power they
+possessed, and its constant exercise, had not only produced the
+inevitable hardening effect, but had made them cruel in the true sense
+of the word. Their pleasure in passing dreadful sentences was very
+thinly disguised by certain lofty conventional phrases as to the
+necessity of upholding the law, morality, and religion; they were,
+indeed, as familiar with the name of the Deity as any ranter in a
+conventicle, and the 'enormity of the crime' was an expression as
+constantly used in the case of the theft of a loaf of bread, or of an
+old coat left hanging on a hedge, by some ill-clad, half-starved wretch,
+as in cases of burglary, arson, rape, and murder.
+
+"It is surprising to find how very few the real crimes were in those
+days, despite the misery of the people; that nearly all the 'crimes' for
+which men were sentenced to the gallows and to transportation for life,
+or for long terms, were offences which would now be sufficiently
+punished by a few weeks', or even a few days', imprisonment. Thus in
+April, 1825, I note that Mr. Justice Park commented on the heavy
+appearance of the calendar. It was not so much the number (170) of the
+offenders that excited his concern as it was the nature of the crimes
+with which they were charged. The worst crime in this instance was
+sheep-stealing!
+
+"Again, this same Mr. Justice Park, at the Spring Assizes at Salisbury,
+1827, said that though the calendar was a heavy one, he was happy to
+find, on looking at the depositions of the principal cases, that they
+were not of a very serious character. Nevertheless he passed sentence of
+death on twenty-eight persons, among them being one for stealing half a
+crown!
+
+"Of the twenty-eight all but three were eventually reprieved, one of the
+fated three being a youth of 19, who was charged with stealing a mare
+and pleaded guilty in spite of a warning from the judge not to do so.
+This irritated the great man who had the power of life and death in his
+hand. In passing sentence the judge 'expatiated on the prevalence of the
+crime of horse-stealing and the necessity of making an example. The
+enormity of Read's crime rendered him a proper example, and he would
+therefore hold out no hope of mercy towards him.' As to the plea of
+guilty, he remarked that nowadays too many persons pleaded guilty,
+deluded with the hope that it would be taken into consideration and they
+would escape the severer penalty. He was determined to put a stop to
+that sort of thing; if Read had not pleaded guilty no doubt some
+extenuating circumstance would have come up during the trial and he
+would have saved his life.
+
+"There, if ever, spoke the 'human devil' in a black cap!
+
+"I find another case of a sentence of transportation for life on a youth
+of 18, named Edward Baker, for stealing a pocket-handkerchief. Had he
+pleaded guilty it might have been worse for him.
+
+"At the Salisbury Spring Assizes, 1830, Mr. Justice Gazalee, addressing
+the grand jury, said that none of the crimes appeared to be marked with
+circumstances of great moral turpitude. The prisoners numbered 130; he
+passed sentences of death on twenty-nine, life transportations on five,
+fourteen years on five, seven years on eleven, and various terms of hard
+labour on the others." (_A Shepherd's Life_, pp. 241-4.)
+
+Johnnie Budd was done to death before my principal informants, one 89
+years old, the other 93, were born; but in their early years they knew
+the widow and her three children, and had known them and their children
+all their lives; thus the whole story of Johnnie and Marty was familiar
+to them. Now, when I thought of Johnnie's case and how he was treated at
+the trial, as it was told me by these old people, it struck me as so
+like that of the poor young man Read, who was hanged because he pleaded
+guilty, that I at once came to the belief that it was Mr. Justice Park
+who had tried him. I have accordingly searched the newspapers of that
+day, but have failed to find Johnnie's case. I can only suppose that
+this particular case was probably considered too unimportant to be
+reported at large in the newspapers of 1821. He was just one of a number
+convicted and sentenced to capital punishment.
+
+When Johnnie was hanged his poor wife travelled to Salisbury and
+succeeded in getting permission to take the body back to the village for
+burial. How she in her poverty, with her three little children to keep,
+managed it I don't know. Probably some of the other poor villagers who
+pitied and perhaps loved her helped her to do it. She did even more: she
+had a grave-stone set above him with his name and the dates of his birth
+and death cut on it. And there it is now, within a dozen yards of the
+church door in the small old churchyard--the smallest village churchyard
+known to me; and Johnnie's and Marty's children's children are still
+living in the village.
+
+
+FINIS
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE WORKS OF W. H. HUDSON
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS OF LA PLATA
+
+With 22 Coloured Plates by H. Gronvold, specially drawn under
+the Author's supervision.
+
+This book contains articles on some 200 birds of La Plata actually known
+to the Author, arranged under species, and characterised by that
+intimate personal touch which constitutes the chief charm of his
+writing. Originally published in 1888 under the title _Argentine
+Ornithology_, in collaboration with Philip Lutley Sclater, it has now
+been thoroughly revised by Mr. Hudson, who has deleted all except his
+own work, and has written a new Introduction of considerable length.
+
+The coloured plates of this new book have been done by Mr. H. Gronvold,
+under the most careful supervision of the Author, whose intimate
+knowledge of the birds in their life and true environment has helped the
+artist to give a vivid and faithful presentment of the different
+species.
+
+The illustrations constitute an integral part of the book itself, and
+are not mere decorative additions. This book now forms a companion
+volume to another work of Mr. Hudson's, _The Naturalist in La Plata_.
+
+
+
+
+A COMPANION VOLUME
+
+THE NATURALIST IN LA PLATA
+
+
+_The Naturalist in La Plata_ can now be obtained in a new and cheaper
+edition than the original, which was first published in 1892. The
+letterpress and the drawings in the text by J. Smit have been left as
+they were; the only change is in the form of the book and in the
+substitution of new plates for the old ones. This book forms a companion
+volume to _Birds of La Plata_.
+
+
+
+
+FAR AWAY AND LONG AGO
+
+An Autobiographical Sketch of the Writer's Boyhood
+
+"To read his book is to read another chapter in that enormous book which
+is written from time to time by Rousseau and George Sand and Aksakoff
+among other people--a book which we can never read enough of; and
+therefore we must beg Mr. Hudson not to stop here, but to carry the
+story on to the farthest possible limits."--_Times Literary Supplement._
+
+"A low-pitched narrative, but once listened to it is as enthralling as
+Mr. Hudson found the voice of the golden plover."--_Athenaeum._
+
+"He who does not know the work of W. H. Hudson is missing one of the
+finest pleasures of contemporary literature."--_Daily News._
+
+"Regarding the author hitherto primarily as a naturalist we rediscover
+him as an acute psychologist.... For many readers the chief interest of
+the book will lie in the charming reflective presentment of the thoughts
+of a boy's mind."--_Bookman._
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE
+
+With 8 Coloured Plates after E. J. Detmold
+
+Head and Tail Pieces by Herbert Cole
+
+"Mr. Hudson loves all birds; they are his work, his recreation, his
+life; he writes about them as no one else can: he sees what others
+miss."--_Manchester Guardian._
+
+"This book is full of his unsurpassed perception and unique
+charm.... Some of his best passages about birds are equally delightful
+and vivid sketches of human life."--_Times Literary Supplement._
+
+"Mr. Hudson is more than a naturalist. He is a man of genius who
+transmutes lead into gold--the lead of knowledge into the gold of
+feeling.... As you hear the music of his prose ... you recapture
+the delicious tenderness of childhood with its wistful wonder and
+vision.... Mr. Hudson is a nightingale naturalist with a voice that
+throbs in waves of magical melody."
+
+--James Douglas in _The Star_.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn, by
+William Henry Hudson
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEAD MAN'S PLACK AND AN OLD THORN ***
+
+***** This file should be named 19691.txt or 19691.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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+
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+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
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