d he gave Elfric a mixture which assuaged his burning thirst, and
bathed his forehead with some powerful essence which refreshed him
greatly, whereupon the leech departed.

Only an hour later, and Edred, hearing from the physician of Elfric's
sudden illness, came in to see the boy, whose bright cheerful face and
merry disposition had greatly attracted him. This was hardest of all for
Elfric to bear; he had to evade the kind questions of the king, and to
hear expressions of sympathy which he felt he did not deserve.

More than once he felt inclined to tell all, but the fear of the prince
restrained him, and also a sense of what he thought honour, for he would
not betray his companion, and he could not confess his own guilt without
implicating Edwy.

Poor boy! it would have been far better for him had he done so: he had
taken his first step downward.

CHAPTER VI. LOWER AND LOWER.

It becomes our painful duty to record that from the date of the feast,
described in our last chapter, the character of poor Elfric underwent
rapid deterioration. In the first place, the fact of his having yielded
to the forbidden indulgence, and--as he felt--disgraced himself,
gave Edwy, as the master of the secret, great power over him, and he
never failed to use this power whenever he saw any inclination on the
part of his vassal to throw off the servitude. It was not that he
deliberately intended to injure Elfric, but he had come to regard virtue
as either weakness or hypocrisy, at least such virtues as temperance,
purity, or self restraint.

The great change which was creeping over Elfric became visible to
others: he seemed to lose his bright smile; the look of boyish innocence
faded from his countenance, and gave place to an expression of sullen
reserve; he showed less ardour in all his sports and pastimes, became
subject to fits of melancholy, and often seemed lost in thought, anxious
thought, in the midst of his studies.

He seldom had the power, even if the will, to communicate with home.
Mercia was in many respects an independent state, subject to the same
king, but governed by a code of laws differing from those of Wessex; and
it was only when a royal messenger or some chance traveller left court
for the banks of the Midland Avon, that Elfric could use the art of
writing, a knowledge he was singular in possessing, thanks to the wisdom
of his sire.

So the home authorities knew little of the absent one, for whom they
off