ouch seemed to him like fire. The prophecies of Hilda on
the fatal night by the bautastein, which had decided him to reject the
prayer of Gurth, the fears of Edith, and the cautions of Edward, came
back to him, dark, haunting, and overmasteringly. They rose between him
and his sober sense, whenever he sought to re-collect his thoughts, now
to madden him with the sense of his folly in belief, now to divert his
mind from the perilous present to the triumphant future they foretold;
and of all the varying chaunts of the Vala, ever two lines seemed to burn
into his memory, and to knell upon his ear, as if they contained the
counsel they ordained him to pursue:

"GUILE BY GUILE OPPOSE, and never
Crown and brow shall Force dissever!"

So there he sat, locked and rigid, not reclining, not disrobing, till in
that posture a haggard, troubled, fitful sleep came over him; nor did he
wake till the hour of prime [202], when ringing bells and tramping feet,
and the hum of prayer from the neighbouring chapel, roused him into
waking yet more troubled, and well-nigh as dreamy. But now Godrith and
Haco entered the room, and the former inquired with some surprise in his
tone, if he had arranged with the Duke to depart that day; "For," said
he, "the Duke's hors-thegn has just been with me, to say that the Duke
himself, and a stately retinue, are to accompany you this evening towards
Harfleur, where a ship will be in readiness for our transport; and I know
that the chamberlain (a courteous and pleasant man) is going round to my
fellow-thegns in your train, with gifts of hawks, and chains, and
broidered palls."

"It is so," said Haco, in answer to Harold's brightening and appealing
eye.

"Go then, at once, Godrith," exclaimed the Earl, bounding to his feet,
"have all in order to part at the first break of the trump. Never, I
ween, did trump sound so cheerily as the blast that shall announce our
return to England. Haste--haste!"

As Godrith, pleased in the Earl's pleasure, though himself already much
fascinated by the honours he had received and the splendor he had
witnessed, withdrew, Haco said, "Thou has taken my counsel, noble
kinsman?"

"Question me not, Haco! Out of my memory, all that hath passed here!"

"Not yet," said Haco, with that gloomy and intense seriousness of voice
and aspect, which was so at variance with his years, and which impressed
all he said with an indescribable authority. "Not yet; for even while