al Swamp, the scene of such exciting
events in his earlier life. He found it an utter wilderness, not a
house had been left standing; Etienne had wished to abolish the
very remembrance of the scenes in which, as his conscience told
him, he had acted so ill a part, and when he had succeeded in
persuading the English to trust him, and return to Aescendune, he
had fired the little hamlet and reduced it to ashes.

The brook murmured in solitude and silence, the birds sang
undisturbed by the strife of men.

The scene of Edwin's death from the arrows of Etienne's followers
could hardly be identified; but under the very tree where Pierre
had fallen in stern retaliation, Wilfred knelt, and besought pardon
for himself and rest for the soul which he had sent so hurriedly
before the judgment seat.

"Oh how much we had to forgive each other, Etienne and I," he said
half aloud.

These words caused him to raise his head, and look instinctively
over the place where the light wind was bowing down the heads of
the tall reeds and sedges, which grew where the fire, that
destroyed Count Hugo and his band, had swept over their
predecessors.

These remembrances saddened him, he returned to the castle--the
prey of conflicting emotions.

But much did Wilfred marvel at the peace and concord that reigned
in this happy village, in such contrast to the discord which
elsewhere marked the relations between Englishman and Norman, the
conquered and the conquerors; and one day he ventured to remark
upon the happy change to his old rival and brother-in-law.

"Come with me," said Etienne, "and I will explain it all."

He led Wilfred to the Priory Church, and they entered the hallowed
pale, with its round Norman arches and lofty roof, where the very
tread seemed an intrusion upon the silence, which spake of the
eternal repose that shall be, after the storms of this troublesome
world have their end.

There is something in the Early Norman architecture which appears
to the writer awe-inspiring; the massive round column, the bold and
simple arch, have a more solemn effect upon his senses than the
loveliest productions of the more florid and decorated period.

Such a stern and simple structure was this Priory Church of St.
Wilfred of Aescendune.

It was the hour of nones, and the strains of the hymn of St.
Ambrose, "Rerum Deus tenax vigor," were pealing from the
Benedictines in the choir: which has been thus paraphrased:

"O strength and sta