re looking upon the doomed
creature?--so wild, so pale looked Constance when she stood before the
king and people. The tears ran down Alla's face. 'Go fetch a book,'
cried he; 'and if this knight swears that the woman is guilty, she
shall surely die.' The book was brought, the knight took the oath, and
that moment an unseen hand smote him on the neck, so that he fell down
on the floor, his eyes bursting out of his head. Then a celestial
voice was heard in the midst, crying, 'Thou hast slandered a daughter
of Holy Church in high presence, and yet I hold my peace.' A great awe
fell on all who heard, and the king and multitudes of his people were
converted. Shortly after this, Alla wedded Constance with great
richness and solemnity. At length he was called to defend his border
against the predatory Scots, and in his absence a man-child was born.
A messenger was sent with the blissful tidings to the king's camp; but,
on his way, the messenger turned aside to the dwelling of Donegild, the
king's mother, and said, 'Be blithe, madam; the queen has given birth
to a son, and joy is in the land. Here is the letter I bear to the
king.' The wicked Donegild said, 'You must be already tired; here are
refreshments.' And while the simple man drank ale and wine, she forged
a letter, saying that the queen had been delivered of a creature so
fiendish and horrible that no one in the castle could bear to look upon
it. This letter the messenger gave to the king; and who can tell his
grief! But he wrote in reply, 'Welcome be the child that Christ sends!
Welcome, O Lord, be thy pleasure! Be careful of my wife and child till
my return.' The messenger on his return slept at Donegild's court,
with the letter under his girdle. It was stolen while in his drunken
sleep, and another put in its place, charging the constable not to let
Constance remain three days in the kingdom, but to send her and her
child away in the same ship in which she had come. The constable could
not help himself. Thousands are gathered on the shore. With a face
wild and pale as when she came from the sea, and bearing her crying
infant in her arms, she comes through the crowd, which shrinks back,
leaving a lane for her sorrow. She takes her seat in the little boat;
and while the cruel people gaze hour by hour from the shore, she passes
into the sunset, and away out into the night under the stars. When
Alla returned from the war, and found how he had been dece