able to speak; 'I do not require help that is not freely
given.'

Harold knew that the duke was very angry; and he began to see what an
imprudent action he had committed when he had put himself in the power
of this ambitious man.

One of the Norman knights, whom he had rescued, came to Harold that
evening.

'Do not anger the duke,' he begged. 'You little know his determined
will. You are alone, it is useless to resist; and he will find a means
of putting you to silence if you oppose him.'

Harold's young brother, Wulfnoth, came to him next

'Do not refuse to give the duke the promise he asks of you,' implored
the boy with a pale face. 'I have seen their dungeons and the
oubliettes--those dreadful underground cells where a man can scarcely
stand upright, where he may spend years without ever seeing the light
of day.--O Harold, the duke has sworn to imprison both you and me if
you refuse to help him! Promise, Harold, promise; and when you are
safe in England no one can make you hold to a promise which has been
forced from you.'

Harold passed the night in great perplexity.

Should he refuse to make a promise which he knew that he could not keep?

Then he and his young brother would be cast into these dreadful
hiding-places; and they would never be heard of again. In years to
come Englishmen might walk over the very turf under which they lay, and
not know that beneath their feet the lost earls were still living,
buried deep from the blessed sunshine, and the song of the birds, and
the faces of their fellow-men.

Would it be right of him to bring such a fate upon his brother?

Then his native land; what would become of England while Harold lay in
his dungeon?

He knew that without his help the weak, gentle king was unable to
govern.

Then when Duke William came to demand the crown, and the English
resisted him, as they were sure to do, there was no one save Harold to
lead them to battle.

He knew that he was the one man whom England needed at that time.
Already he had been absent too long.

Yet it was a terrible thing to make a promise which he did not intend
to keep.

Morning found Harold with his mind not made up.

That day, William asked his guest to meet him in the great hall of the
castle.

An unexpected sight met the Englishman as he entered. The hall was
filled with knights and barons, all waiting in silence. Beneath the
great stained-glass window was the duke in his state robes, seated