The cattle, grazing in the great space of
the crumbling peristyle, looked up as she passed; the watch-dogs,
wandering through the star-lit columns, came snorting round their
mistress. And when she had vanished within the house, Haco turned to his
steed:

"What matters," he murmured, "the answer which the Vala cannot or dare
not give? To me is not destined the love of woman, nor the ambition of
life. All I know of human affection binds me to Harold; all I know of
human ambition is to share in his fate. This love is strong as hate, and
terrible as doom,--it is jealous, it admits no rival. As the shell and
the sea-weed interlaced together, we are dashed on the rushing surge;
whither? oh, whither?"

CHAPTER IV.

"I tell thee, Hilda," said the Earl, impatiently, "I tell thee that I
renounce henceforth all faith save in Him whose ways are concealed from
our eyes. Thy seid and thy galdra have not guarded me against peril, nor
armed me against sin. Nay, perchance--but peace: I will no more tempt
the dark art, I will no more seek to disentangle the awful truth from the
juggling lie. All so foretold me I will seek to forget,--hope from no
prophecy, fear from no warning. Let the soul go to the future under the
shadow of God!"

"Pass on thy way as thou wilt, its goal is the same, whether seen or
unmarked. Peradventure thou art wise," said the Vala, gloomily.

"For my country's sake, heaven be my witness, not my own," resumed the
Earl, "I have blotted my conscience and sullied my truth. My country
alone can redeem me, by taking my life as a thing hallowed evermore to
her service. Selfish ambition do I lay aside, selfish power shall tempt
me no more; lost is the charm that I beheld in a throne, and, save for
Edith--"

"No! not even for Edith," cried the betrothed, advancing, "not even for
Edith shalt thou listen to other voice than that of thy country and thy
soul."

The Earl turned round abruptly, and his eyes were moist. "O Hilda," he
cried, "see henceforth my only Vala; let that noble heart alone interpret
to us the oracles of the future."

The next day Harold returned with Haco and a numerous train of his
house-carles to the city. Their ride was as silent as that of the day
before; but on reaching Southwark, Harold turned away from the bridge
towards the left, gained the river-side, and dismounted at the house of
one of his lithsmen (a franklin, or freed ceorl). Leaving there his
horse, he summoned