is hand,
called for vengeance, and the shrines he had pillaged and burned murmured
doom from their desolate altars. Peace be with the dead, and peace with
the living! I shall go back to my father and brethren; and if the fame
and life of child and sister be dear to them, their swords will never
more leave their sheaths against Harold. So thy hand, and God guard
thee!"

Harold raised to his lips the hand which the Queen extended to him; and
to Aldyth now seemed restored the rare beauty of her youth; as pride and
sorrow gave her the charm of emotion, which love and duty had failed to
bestow.

"Life and health to thee, noble lady," said the Earl. "Tell thy kindred
from me, that for thy sake, and thy grandsire's, I would fain be their
brother and friend; were they but united with me, all England were now
safe against every foe, and each peril. Thy daughter already awaits thee
in the halls of Morcar; and when time has scarred the wounds of the past,
may thy joys re-bloom in the face of thy child. Farewell, noble Aldyth!"

He dropped the hand he had held till then, turned slowly to the side of
the vessel, and re-entered his boat. As he was rowed back to shore, the
horn gave the signal for raising anchor, and the ship, righting itself,
moved majestically through the midst of the fleet. But Aldyth still stood
erect, and her eyes followed the boat that bore away the secret love of
her youth.

As Harold reached the shore, Tostig and the Norman, who had been
conversing amicably together on the beach, advanced towards the Earl.

"Brother," said Tostig, smiling, "it were easy for thee to console the
fair widow, and bring to our House all the force of East Anglia and
Mercia." Harold's face slightly changed, but he made no answer.

"A marvellous fair dame," said the Norman, "notwithstanding her cheek be
somewhat pinched, and the hue sun-burnt. And I wonder not that the poor
cat-king kept her so close to his side."

"Sir Norman," said the Earl, hastening to change the subject, "the war is
now over, and, for long years, Wales will leave our Marches in
peace.--This eve I propose to ride hence towards London, and we will
converse by the way."

"Go you so soon?" cried the knight, surprised. "Shall you not take means
utterly to subjugate this troublesome race, parcel out the lands among
your thegns, to hold as martial fiefs at need, build towers and forts on
the heights, and at the river mouths?--where a site, like this, f