wounded--lean on my arm."

Alfgar's thigh had, it will be remembered, been pierced by an arrow,
but the wound was not deep, and with his father's assistance he could
proceed. He knew where Anlaf led. At length they came upon a deserted
clearing, and there he paused until Alfgar, who could scarcely keep
up, stood by his side.

Before them the moonbeams fell upon a dark charred mass of ruins in
the centre of the space.

"This is the spot where father and son should meet again," said Anlaf
and he embraced his son.

CHAPTER VII. FATHER AND SON.

"Here, my son," said the old warrior, as he pointed out the blackened
ruins, "here stood our home, where now the screech owl haunts, and the
wolf has its den. There, where the broken shaft yet remains, was the
chamber in which thou first sawest the light, and wherein thy mother
died there, where snake and toad have their home, was the great hall.
Surely the moonbeams fall more peacefully on the spot now all has been
avenged, and the halls of the murderers have fallen in their turn. But
how didst thou escape?"

"The folk of Aescendune saved me, father."

"But how; from the burning pile?"

"Nay. I had spent the previous day with them, and returned home only
in time to find the place in flames. The enemy seized me, and would
have slain me, but Elfwyn and his brother, Father Cuthbert, delivered
me; and now thou hast slain their Bertric, and burnt both hall and
priory."

"Think not that I owe them gratitude for aught they have done. They
tampered with thy faith, I now apprehend, even before the night of St.
Brice, and perhaps drew from thee the knowledge which enabled them to
surprise so large a party in my house. But all this was to make thee
abandon the gods of thy fathers, and to inflict the worst injury they
could upon a warrior. I trust they have failed!"

"Father, I am a Christian!"

"Say not that again, boy, if thou would not have me kill thee."

"I can but say it, father. In all that touches not my faith and duty
as a Christian, I am bound to love, honour, and obey you. But our
religion forbids me to nourish revenge."

"Of what religion, pray, were they who would have slain thy father on
St. Brice's night?"

Alfgar hung his head.

"When Christians practise themselves what they teach, then we will
heed their pretensions, but not till then. Their religion is but a
cloak for their cowardice, and they put it aside as a man throws away
a useless garment when