by A. D. Crake
their burden into the courtyard. Every moment Elfric expected tosee the beloved faces bending over him; but all seemed strange, till heremembered that Redwald had remained behind at the hall; the fourbearers spoke uneasily to one another, and Oswy disappeared in the duskytwilight.
At length three or four men, in the military costume so familiar toElfric, approached the litter; and raising him, bore him into theinterior of the building, up the stairs, into the gallery, which partlyran round at the height of the first floor. The door of a room wasopened, a familiar room; it had been his father's bedroom, and Elfricwas placed on the bed.
"Ask them to come to me," he said "father, mother, Alfred, Edgitha!--where are they?"
But minute after minute passed by, and no one came near; there was nolight in the room, and it was soon very dark. Elfric became veryuncomfortable; it was not the kind of reception he had promised himself.
"Why does not my father come," he muttered impatiently, "to see hiswounded boy?" and he felt at one moment his pride revive, then asickening feeling of anxiety filled his heart.
But it was not until an hour had passed that he heard a heavy step onthe stairs, and soon the door opened, and Redwald appeared.
Elfric. gazed upon him with surprise; especially when he noted the sterncold look which sat on his features. As Redwald did not speak, Elfrictook the initiative.
"Why is not my father here? I want to see him, Redwald; do send him tome; say I must see him, I must--I cannot endure this longer; it ismore than I can bear."
"Calm yourself and listen to me, for I have a strange story to unfold toyou."
"Not now; some other time; do send them to me."
"It must be heard now; and perhaps when you have heard it, you willcomprehend why they do not come."
"But they will come?"
"Elfric, there was, two generations back, a man who had two sons; he wasa noble thane of high descent, his eldest son was worthy of his father,high souled, impetuous, brave, fiery, and in short, all a warrior's sonshould be: the younger son had the heart of a monk, and was learned inall pious tricks; he stole the father's heart from his elder brother."
Elfric began to listen at this point.
"At last, misjudgment and unkindness drove the elder brother from home,and he sought food and shelter from men who had the souls of conquerors.With them he lived, for his father disinherited him; he had no father,he had no country."
Elfric began to draw his breath quickly.
"At length war arose between those who had sheltered and protected him,and the people who should have been his own people; say what side wasthe exile to be found on?"
"He should have fought with his own people."
"His own people were those who had really adopted him when his fatherand family disowned him, and with them he fought for victory; but thefates were unpropitious, the people with whom his father and brotherfought were successful; the son was taken prisoner, and adjudged to diea traitor's death, his own father and brother consenting."
Elfric began to comprehend all.
"They put him on board an open boat, and sent him out to sea, at themercy of winds and waves; but not alone; he had married amongst thepeople who had adopted him, and his boy would not forsake his sire, forhe had one boy--the mother was dead. This boy besought thehard-hearted executioners of a tyrant's will to let him share the fateof his sire, so earnestly, that at last they consented."
"The boat, as it pleased fate, was driven by wind and tide on the shoreof Denmark, and there the unhappy exile landed; but he had been woundedin the battle, and his subsequent exposure caused his early death;before he died he bequeathed one legacy, and only one, to his son--
"Vengeance."
Elfric was pale as death, and trembled visibly.
"Then you are--"
"Elfric, I am your cousin, and the deadly foe of you and yours!"
"Then my poor father; but if you must find a victim seek it in me; sparehim! oh, spare him!"
Redwald smiled; but such a smile.
"At least let me see him now, and obtain his forgiveness. Redwald, he ismy father; you were faithful to your father; let me atone for myunfaithfulness to mine."
"You believe there is another world, perhaps?"
Elfric. only answered by a look of piteous alarm.
"Because, in that case, you must seek your father there; although I fearDunstan would say there is likely to be a gulf between you."
Elfric comprehended him, and with a cry which might have melted a heartof stone, fell back upon the bed. For a moment he lay like one stunned,then began to utter incoherent ravings, and gazed vacantly around, asone who is delirious.
Redwald seemed for one moment like a man contending with himself, likeone who felt pity struggling with sterner emotions; yet the contest wasvery short.
"It is of no use--he must die; if hearts break, I hope his will break,and save me the task of shedding his blood, or causing it to be shed;there must be no weakness now; he has been sadly wounded; if he is leftalone, he will die; better so--I would spare him if I were not boundby an oath so dread that I shudder to think of it. The others haveescaped: he must die."
Still he walked to and fro, as if pity yet contended with the thirst forvengeance in his hardened breast: perhaps it was his day of grace, andthe Spirit of Him, Who has said "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,"pleaded hard with the sinner. Yet the gentle Voice pleaded in vain;still he walked to and fro, until his resolution seemed firmly made; andhe left the chamber, fastening it on the outside.
CHAPTER XXI. "UNDER WHICH KING?"
It will be remembered that one of the theows who had borne Elfric homefrom the field of battle had become alarmed by the suspicious aspect ofthings at the hall, and had escaped, by prompt evasion, the confinementwhich awaited his companions. Oswy, for it was he, thus showed hisnatural astuteness, while he also conferred the greatest possibleobligation upon Elfric, since he bore the news of his ill-timed arrivalat once to the priory.
Here his worst suspicions were confirmed; and the faithful thrall heardfor the first time of the death of his late lord, and that he had givenhis young master into the hands of his bitter foes. Alfred was at oncesummoned; and a conference was held, in which Father Cuthbert, hisbrethren, and the chamberlain and steward of the hall, took part.
"It is now generally believed," said Father Cuthbert, "that Redwald isthe bitter enemy, for some reason, of the house of Aescendune. Has anyone here suspected that reason?"
No one could give any reply.
"I fear what I am about to say," he continued, "will startle you all.Redwald is a member of the family himself."
"A member of the family!"
"Yes. Is there any one present who remembers the unhappy brother of ourlate lamented lord--Oswald, the son of Offa?"
"Yes," said the old chamberlain, "I remember him well; and I see nowwhat you mean."
"Is not the expression of the face identical? Are they not the samefeatures, as one might say?"
"Yet Redwald is much darker."
"Because his mother was Danish, and he has inherited some of herpeculiarities, that is all."
"Still," said the steward, "every one supposed that the unhappy Oswaldperished at sea with his son. Never shall I forget the grief of the oldthane Offa, when inquiring for the son, he learned that he had gone withthe father to his death. He would have adopted him."
"And do we not," added a Benedictine. "say a mass daily at St. Wilfred'saltar for the souls of Oswald and his son Ragnar?"
"Oswald may be dead; Ragnar yet lives in Redwald. The name alone ischanged."
"But where are the proofs? We cannot wholly trust an imaginary resemblance."
"It is not imaginary; and these are the proofs in question. The nightafter the murder" (all looked at each other as if a sudden inspirationstruck them), "as I was going to the chapel from the lady Edith'sapartments, I passed through a passage little used, but leading past thechamber allotted to Redwald, and only separated by a thin wainscoting. Iwas s
tartled as I passed it by the sound of a pacing to and fro; anincessant pacing; and I heard the inmate of the room soliloquising withhimself as in a state of frenzied feeling. I caught only broken wordsbut again and again I heard 'Avenged;' and once 'Father you areavenged;' and once 'Little do they know who is their guest;' once 'It isa good beginning,' and such like ejaculations. I remained a long time,because, as you will all see, the murderer stood revealed."
"Then why did you not tell us before?" exclaimed all, almost in a breath.
"Because it would have been of no avail. Had there been the least chanceof calling him to account, I should, you may be sure, have proclaimedhis guilt. But early in the morning fresh forces began to arrive to