and the Lady Hilda; and on those
fine August nights, as they walked home after the labours in the
field, or the service in the priory, they forgot all the misery of the
land, and lived only for each other.

Happy, happy days! How often they looked back to them afterwards!

A second messenger came during harvest time from the camp, now on the
borders of Sussex. His news was no better than before. The Danes were
harassing the army on every side, but no decisive battle had been
fought. The enemy still seemed to know all the plans of the English
beforehand; and the booty they had gained was enormous, while a deep
distrust of their leaders was spreading amongst the defenders of the
soil.

Elfwyn expressed his intention of seeking an early leave of absence
should events justify him in paying a short visit home. This delighted
the hearts of his wife and children, and they were happy in
anticipation.

It was a fine day in September when the thankful people of Aescendune
were called to raise the song of "Harvest Home"--for the fruits of the
earth had indeed been safely gathered in ere the winter storms by the
hands of women and children. Such joy as befitted the absence of their
lords was theirs, and Alfgar and Bertric, not to waste the holiday,
agreed to have a day's hunting in the forest, rich with all the hues
of autumn, while the feast was preparing at home.

The day was delightful. Two young theows, whose fathers had gone to
the war, but who had been left behind as being too young to share its
dangers, although in the flush of early youth, accompanied them, and
were soon loaded with the lighter game their masters had killed, while
a deer they had slain was hung in the trees, where a wolf could not
reach it, and where wayfarers were not likely to pass until the
sportsmen should return for their own. Onward they wandered until the
sun was declining, and then, having some few miles of forest to
thread, and the deer to send for, they turned on their homeward way.

No thought of any danger was on their minds that day. The Danes were
too far distant. They were more than a hundred miles from the seat of
war, and a hundred miles in those days meant more than five hundred
would mean now.

About the hour of five they rested and bathed in a tributary of the
Avon. Bertric's spirits were very high: he laughed and talked like one
whose naturally ardent temperament was stimulated by the bracing
atmosphere and the exercise. His a