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of him than that The other is Wulf, who is a ward and page of Earl

Harold. His father was thane of Steyning in South Sussex, one of

Godwin's men, and at his death two years ago Harold took the lad

into his household, for he bore great affection for Gyrth, who had

accompanied him in his pilgrimage to Rome, and fought by his side

when he conquered the Welsh. It was there Gyrth got the wound that

at last brought about his death. Wulf has been to my smithy many

times, sometimes about matters of repairs to arms, but more often,

I think, to see my son Osgod. He had seen him once or twice in

calling at the shop, when one day Osgod, who is somewhat given to

mischief, was playing at ball, and drove it into the face of a son

of one of the Norman lords at court. The boy drew his dagger, and

there would have been blood shed, but Wulf, who was passing at the

time, and saw that the thing was a pure mishap and not the result

of set intention, threw himself between them.

"There was a great fuss over it, for the boy took his tale to his

father, who demanded that Osgod should be punished, and would

doubtless have gained his end had not Wulf spoken to Earl Harold,

who intervened in the matter and persuaded the Norman to let it

drop. Since then the boys have been great friends in their way.

Osgod is a year older than the young thane, and has already made

up his mind to be his man when he grows up, and he has got me to

agree to it, though I would rather that he had stuck to my handicraft.

Still, the prospect is not a bad one. Harold will be King of England,

Wulf will be a powerful thane, and will doubtless some day hold

high place at court, and as he seems to have taken a real liking

to Osgod, the boy may have good chances.

"Wulf will make a good fighting man one of these days. Harold sees

that all his pages are well instructed in arms, and the two boys

often have a bout with blunted swords when Wulf comes to my smithy;

and, by my faith, though I have taught Osgod myself, and he already

uses his arms well, the young thane is fully a match for him. You

would hardly believe that the boy can read as well as a monk, but

it is so. Earl Harold, you know, thinks a good deal of education,

and has founded a college at Waltham. He persuaded Wulf's father

to send him there, and, indeed, will take none as his pages unless

they can read. I see not what good reading can do to most men, but

doubtless for one who is at court and may hold some day a high post

there, it is useful to be able to read deeds and grants of estates,

instead of having to trust others' interpretation."

"I wondered to see you press forward so suddenly into the crowd,

neighbour, seeing that you are a busy man, but I understand now

that you had an interest in the affair."

"That had I. I was holding myself in readiness, if that Norman boy

drew his dagger, to give him such a blow across the wrist with my

cudgel that it would be long before he handled a weapon again. I

fear Wulf has got himself into trouble. The bishop will doubtless

complain to the king of the language used by one of Harold's pages,

and though the earl is well able to see that no harm comes to the

lad, it is likely he will send him away to his estates for a time.

For he strives always to avoid quarrels and disputes, and though

he will not give way a jot in matters where it seems to him that

the good of the realm is concerned, he will go much farther lengths

than most men would do in the way of conciliation. Look how he has

borne with Tostig and with the Earls of Mercia. He seems to have

no animosity in his nature, but is ready to forgive all injuries

as soon as pardon is asked."

The smith was not far wrong in his opinion as to what was likely

to happen. As soon as Wulf returned to the palace he was told that

the earl desired his presence, and he proceeded at once to the

apartment where Harold transacted public business. It was a hall

of considerable size; the floor was strewed with rushes; three

scribes sat at a table, and to them the earl dictated his replies

and decisions on the various matters brought before him. When he

saw Wulf enter he rose from his seat, and, beckoning to him to

follow, pushed aside the hangings across a door leading to an

apartment behind and went in. Wulf had no fear whatever of any

severe consequence to himself from his quarrel with Walter Fitz-Urse,

but he was ashamed that his thoughtlessness should have given the

slightest trouble to the earl, for, popular as he was among all

classes of men in southern England, Harold was an object of love

as well as respect to his dependents, and indeed to all who came

in close contact with him.

The earl was now forty-one years of age. He was very tall, and was

considered the strongest man in England. His face was singularly

handsome, with an expression of mingled gentleness and firmness.

His bearing was courteous to all. He united a frank and straightforward

manner with a polished address rare among his rough countrymen.

Harold had travelled more and farther than any Englishman of his

age. He had visited foreign courts and mingled with people more

advanced in civilization than were those of England or Normandy,

and was centuries ahead of the mass of his countrymen. He was an

ardent advocate of education, a strong supporter of the national

church, an upholder of the rights of all men, and although he

occasionally gave way to bursts of passion, was of a singularly

sweet and forgiving disposition.

King Edward was respected by his people because, coming after two

utterly worthless kings, he had an earnest desire for their good,

although that desire seldom led to any very active results. He was

a member of their own royal house. He was deeply religious. His

life was pure and simple, and although all his tastes and sympathies

were with the land in which he had been brought up, Englishmen

forgave him this because at least he was a Saxon, while his

predecessors had been Danes. But while they respected Edward, for

Harold, their real ruler, they felt a passionate admiration. He was

a worthy representative of all that was best in the Saxon character.

He possessed in an eminent degree the openness of nature, the frank

liberality, the indomitable bravery, and the endurance of hardship

that distinguished the race. He was Earl of the West Saxons, and

as such had special claims to their fealty.

London, it was true, did not lie in his earldom, but in that of his

brother Leofwyn, but Leofwyn and Harold were as one--true brothers

in heart and in disposition. The gentleness and courtesy of manner

that, although natural, had been softened and increased by Harold's

contact with foreigners, was not only pardoned but admired because

he was England's champion against foreigners. He had fought, and

victoriously, alike against the Norwegians, the Danes of Northumbria,

and the Welsh, and he struggled as sturdily, though peacefully,

against Norman influence in England. Already the dread of Norman

preponderance was present in the minds of Englishmen. It was no

secret that in his early days Edward had held out hopes, if he had

not given an actual promise, to William of Normandy that he should

succeed him. Of late the king had been somewhat weaned from his

Norman predilections, and had placed himself unreservedly in Harold's

hands, giving to the latter all real power while he confined himself

to the discharge of religious exercises, and to the supervision of

the building of his abbey, varied occasionally by hunting expeditions,

for he still retained a passionate love of the chase; but men knew

that the warlike Duke of Normandy would not be likely to forget the

promise, and that trouble might come to England from over the sea.

Harold, then, they not only regarded as their present ruler, but

as their future king, and as the national leader and champion.

Edward had no children. The royal house was extinct save for Edward

the Atheling, who, like the present king, had lived all his life

abroad, and could have no sympathy with Englishmen. There being,

then, no one of the royal house available, who but Harold, the head

of the great house of Godwin, the earl of the West Saxons, the

virtual ruler of England, could be chosen? The English kings,

although generally selected from the royal house, ruled rather by

the election of the people as declared by their representatives in

the Witan than by their hereditary right. The prince next in

succession by blood might, at the death of the sovereign, be called

king, but he was not really a monarch until elected by the Witan

and formally consecrated.

It had been nine months after he had been acclaimed to the throne

by the people of London that King Edward had been elected king by

the Witan, and formally enthroned. Thus, then, the fact that Harold

did not belong to the royal family mattered but little in the eyes

of Englishmen. To them belonged the right of choosing their own

monarch, and if they chose him, who was to say them nay?

Wulf felt uncomfortable as he followed the stately figure into the

inner room, but he faced the Earl as the door closed behind him

with as fearless a look as that with which he had stood before the

haughty prelate of London. A slight smile played upon Harold's face

as he looked down upon the boy.

"You are a troublesome varlet, Wulf, and the Lord Bishop has been

making serious complaint of you to the king. He says that you brawled

with his page, Walter Fitz-Urse; that you used insolent words against

his countrymen; and that you even withstood himself. What have you

to say to this?"

"The brawling was on the part of the bishop's page and not of mine,

my lord. I was running out to carry the message with which you

charged me to Ernulf of Dover when I ran against Fitz-Urse. That

was not my fault, but a pure mischance, nevertheless I expressed

my regret in fitting terms. Instead of accepting them, he spoke

insolently, talked of chastising me, and put his hand on the hilt

of his dagger. Then, my lord, I grew angry too. Why should I, the

page of Earl Harold, submit to be thus contemptuously spoken to by

this young Norman, who is but the page of an upstart bishop, and

whom, if your lordship will give permission, I would right willingly

fight, with swords or any other weapons. Doubtless, in my anger, I

did not speak respectfully of Walter's countrymen, and for this I

am sorry, since it has been the ground of complaint and of trouble

to you."

"In fact, Wulf, you spoke as a quarrelsome boy and not as the page

of one who has the cares of this kingdom on his shoulders, and whose

great desire is to keep peace between all parties," the earl put

in gravely.

For the first time Wulf hung his head:

"I was wrong, my lord."

"You were wrong, Wulf; it is not good always to say what we think;

and you, as my page, should bear in mind that here at court it

behoves you to behave and to speak not as a headstrong boy, but as

one whose words may, rightly or wrongly, be considered as an echo

of those you may have heard from me. And now to the third charge,

that you withstood the prelate; a matter that, in the king's eyes,

is a very serious one."

"The bishop would give ear to nought I had to say. He listened to

his own page's account and not to mine, and when I said in my defence

that though I did use the words about the Normans, I did so merely

as one boy quarrelling with the other, he said I ought to have my

ears slit. Surely, my lord, a free-born thane is not to be spoken

to even by a Norman bishop as if he were a Norman serf. I only

replied that before there was any slitting of ears your lordship

would have a say in the matter. So far, I admit, I did withstand

the bishop, and I see not how I could have made other reply."

"It would have been better to have held your peace altogether,

Wulf."

"It would, my lord, but it would also surely have been better had

the bishop abstained from talking about slitting ears."

"That would have been better also, but two wrongs do not make a

right. I was present when the bishop made his complaint, and upon

my inquiring more into the matter, his version was somewhat similar

to yours. I then pointed out to him that if holy bishops lost their

tempers and used threats that were beyond their power to carry into

effect, they must not be too severe upon boys who forget the respect

due to their office. Nevertheless, I admitted that you were wrong,

and I promised the king, who was perhaps more disturbed by this

incident than there was any occasion for, that I would take you to

task seriously, and that to avoid any further brawl between you and

young Fitz-Urse, you should for a time be sent away from court. I

did this on the agreement that the bishop should, on his part,

admonish Walter Fitz-Urse against discourteous behaviour and unseemly

brawling, and had I known that he had put his hand on his dagger,

I would have gone further. Have you any witnesses that he did so?"

"Yes, my lord; I saw the smith Ulred among those standing by, and

doubtless he would see the action."

"That is well," Harold said. "I shall acquaint the bishop with the

fact when I tell him that I have ordered you to leave for your

estate at Steyning, and that if his page denies it, I have witnesses

to prove the truth of your assertions. I think in that case he will

be glad to drop the matter, for were I to mention the fact to the

king, he, who has a horror of the drawing of weapons, would order

Walter Fitz-Urse to be sent back to Normandy. So your exile is not

likely to be of long duration. You understand, Wulf, that I am not

seriously angered with you in this matter. You are but a boy, and

one cannot expect that you will behave as a prudent man; but remember,

lad, even a boy's words may do mischief, especially when placed as

you are. There may come a time when you shall show by deeds and not

by words your feelings against the Normans, but till then bear