mely fate, the
royal lady wept aloud. After he had concluded his melancholy tale, she
took him to the castle of which she was herself an inmate, and
commended him to the care of her noble host, who quickly attended to
all his wants, and furnished him with dry garments.

When Wilfrid had taken due rest and refreshment, the queen requested
that he should be brought into her presence. He was, accordingly,
ushered into a stately apartment, where Ogina was seated under a
crimson canopy, fringed with gold. She bade him draw near, and
extended her hand toward him. Being well acquainted with courtly
customs, the youth respectfully bowed his knee and humbly kissed the
hand of the royal lady, who proceeded to say,--

"Thou hast been found true when the only reward thou didst expect for
thy faithfulness was a cruel death. But surely thou hast been
conducted by a kind Providence into the presence of one who has both
the will and the power to requite thee for thy fidelity to the
unfortunate Atheling; for I am his sister, the Queen of France."

"And I have then the honor to stand before the royal Ogina, daughter of
my late lord, King Edward, and Queen of King Charles of France?" said
Wilfrid, again bowing himself.

"The same," replied the queen, taking a ring of great value from her
finger and placing it on that of the page.

"Take this ring," continued she, "in token of my favor; and if thou
wilt serve me in one thing, I will make thee the greatest lord in my
husband's court."

"Royal lady," said Wilfrid, "I have a widowed mother in my own land
whom I cannot forsake; neither would I desert my native country to
become a peer of France. But tell me wherein I can be of service to
thee, and if it be in my power it shall be done."

"Darest thou," said the queen, "return to England and presenting
thyself before my brother Athelstane, thy king, declare to him the
innocence and the sad fate of Edwin, the Atheling, his father's son?"

"Lady, I not only dare, but I desire so to do," replied Wilfrid; "for I
fear my God, and I have no other fear."

Then the Queen of France loaded Wilfrid with rich presents, and sent
him over to England in a gallant ship to bear the mournful tidings of
poor Prince Edwin's death to England's king. She thought that when
Athelstane should hear the sad tale told in the pathetic language of
the faithful page, his heart would be touched with remorse for what he
had done.

Now King Athelstane was al