ned by a
virtuous and wise ruler. But, noble Harold, I grieve that you should
thus note the sore point in my realm. I grant that the condition of the
peasants and the culture of the land need reform. But in my childhood,
there was a fierce outbreak of rebellion among the villeins, needing
bloody example to check, and the memories of wrath between lord and
villein must sleep before we can do justice between them, as please St.
Peter, and by Lanfranc's aid, we hope to do. Meanwhile, one great portion
of our villeinage in our larger towns we have much mitigated. For trade
and commerce are the strength of rising states; and if our fields are
barren our streets are prosperous."

Harold bowed, and rode musingly on. That civilisation he had so much
admired bounded itself to the noble class, and, at farthest, to the
circle of the Duke's commercial policy. Beyond it, on the outskirts of
humanity, lay the mass of the people. And here, no comparison in favour
of the latter could be found between English and Norman civilisation.

The towers of Bayeux rose dim in the distance, when William proposed a
halt in a pleasant spot by the side of a small stream, overshadowed by
oak and beech. A tent for himself and Harold was pitched in haste, and
after an abstemious refreshment, the Duke, taking Harold's arm, led him
away from the train along the margin of the murmuring stream.

They were soon in a remote, pastoral, primitive spot, a spot like those
which the old menestrels loved to describe, and in which some pious
hermit might, pleased, have fixed his solitary home.

Halting where a mossy bank jutted over the water, William motioned to his
companion to seat himself, and reclining at his side, abstractedly took
the pebbles from the margin and dropped them into the stream. They fell
to the botton with a hollow sound; the circle they made on the surface
widened, and was lost; and the wave rushed and murmured on, disdainful.

"Harold," said the Duke at last, "thou hast thought, I fear, that I have
trifled with thy impatience to return. But there is on my mind a matter
of great moment to thee and to me, and it must out, before thou canst
depart. On this very spot where we now sit, sate in early youth, Edward
thy King, and William thy host. Soothed by the loneliness of the place,
and the music of the bell from the church tower, rising pale through
yonder glade, Edward spoke of his desire for the monastic life, and of
his content