one in delirium, penetrated the passage from the
chamber, amidst which the chamberlain knocked again.

"There! there!" cried an agonised voice, "he knocks again; 'tis
Elfhelm of Shrewsbury, whom Edric slew; 'twasn't I, 'twas Edric, I
only shared the spoil; keep him out, I tell you, keep him out."

The door was not opened; probably those within feared to excite the
king; and the chamberlain whispered to Edmund:

"He is in delirium, his ravings are very painful."

"I hear," said Edmund; "how long has he been in this state?"

"Only a few hours, and he has constantly imagined that men, who are
long since dead, were about him; especially he calls upon Dunstan,
then upon St. Brice, then he calls for his son-in-law, Edric."

"Ah, Edric!"

"Yes; but Edric is with Canute, I hear."

"I wish he were with Satan, in his own place," said Edmund, fiercely,
forgetting all Christian charity at the hated name.

"It is devoutly to be wished; but he is quiet, we may enter now."

The king, exhausted by his own violent emotions, lay back upon the
bed, which occupied the centre of the room, surmounted by a wooden
canopy, richly carved, from which curtains depended on either side.

His face, which time and evil passions had deeply wrinkled, was of a
deadly paleness; his eyes were encircled by a livid tint, and stared
as if they would start from their orbits; his breathing was rapid and
interrupted, but at the moment when Edmund entered he was silent.
Standing on his left hand, wiping the perspiration from his brow, was
Emma, the queen, her face yet comely, and bearing trace of that beauty
which had once earned her the title of the "Pearl of Normandy." Her
evident solicitude and loving care was the one picture of the room
upon which the eye could rest with most contentment.

Alfred, her eldest son--for Edmund was the offspring of an early amour
of the king--was on the other side of the bed, a well-made youth,
combining in his features the haughty bearing of his Norman maternal
ancestors with the English traits of his father; but now his
expression was one of distress and anxiety, which was yet more deeply
shared by his younger brother, Edward, who even at this period
manifested that strong sense of religious obligation and that early
devotion which in later years caused him to be numbered amongst
canonised saints.

He knelt at the bedside, and his hand grasped the cold damp hand of
his sire, as if he would strengthen him by his