calmly, if, despite his years, we may find in the
descendant of the Ironsides such a prince as we may commend to our
decaying King as his heir, and to the Witan as a chief fit to defend the
land."

"Thou speakest the cause of my own coming. With your ears will I hear,
with your eyes will I see; as ye judge, will judge I," said Harold,
drawing the prelate towards the thegns, so that they might hear his
answer.

The chiefs, who belonged to a party that had often opposed Godwin's
House, had exchanged looks of fear and trouble when Harold entered; but
at his words their frank faces showed equal surprise and pleasure.

Harold presented to them his nephew, with whose grave dignity of bearing
beyond his years they were favourably impressed, though the good bishop
sighed when he saw in his face the sombre beauty of the guilty sire. The
group then conversed anxiously on the declining health of the King, the
disturbed state of the realm, and the expediency, if possible, of uniting
all suffrages in favour of the fittest successor. And in Harold's voice
and manner, as in Harold's heart, there was nought that seemed conscious
of his own mighty stake and just hopes in that election. But as time
wore, the faces of the thegns grew overcast; proud men and great satraps
[210] were they, and they liked it ill that the boy-prince kept them so
long in the dismal ante-room.

At length the German officer, who had gone to announce their coming,
returned; and in words, intelligible indeed from the affinity between
Saxon and German, but still disagreeably foreign to English ears,
requested them to follow him into the presence of the Atheling.

In a room yet retaining the rude splendour with which it had been
invested by Canute, a handsome boy, about the age of thirteen or
fourteen, but seeming much younger, was engaged in the construction of a
stuffed bird, a lure for a young hawk that stood blindfold on its perch.
The employment made so habitual a part of the serious education of youth,
that the thegns smoothed their brows at the sight, and deemed the boy
worthily occupied. At another end of the room, a grave Norman priest was
seated at a table on which were books and writing implements; he was the
tutor commissioned by Edward to teach Norman tongue and saintly lore to
the Atheling. A profusion of toys strewed the floor, and some children
of Edgar's own age were playing with them. His little sister Margaret
[211] was seated serious