p as I did
so.

"It shall not be said of me that I left King Alfred, who has been
my good friend, in time of trouble; rather will I stay here and do
what I can to help him out of it. Why, there are ships that I have
put in frame for him in the western ports that the Danes will not
reach yet, if at all. When spring comes we will man them and make a
landing somewhere, and so divide the Danish host at least."

"Now I will say no more," answered the thane, putting his hand on
mine. "Speak thus to the king when we find him, and it will do him
good, for I think that when he left Chippenham he was well-nigh
despairing."

"It is hard to think that of Alfred," I said.

"Ay; but I saw his face as he rode away just before I sought you.
Never saw I such a look on a man's face before, and I pray that I
may not see it again. It was terrible to look on him, for I think
he had lost all hope."

"For the time, maybe," I said; "but I cannot believe that when the
first weight of the blow passed he was not himself again."

Presently there came a shift of wind and a quick thaw with driving
rain, and floods grew and spread rapidly in the low-lying lands.
One good thing can be said of this weather, and that was that
because of it the Danes burned neither town nor farmstead, needing
all the shelter they could find.

Three days that gale lasted, and then the wind flew round again to
the north, with return of the frost in even greater strength than
before; and the weather-wise fishers and shepherds said that this
betokened long continuance thereof, and so it seemed likely to be.

But through it all we heard no tidings of the king; and in one way
that was good, for had he been taken by the Danes, they would have
let all men know thereof soon enough. But we feared that he might
have been slain by some party who knew not who he was, and that
fear hung heavily over us all.

Next we had a messenger from Odda, who was at Exeter, asking for
sure word of what had befallen; and the one hope we had yet was
gone, for he too knew nothing.

Very sad and silent was Osmund the jarl, though he and Thora were
most kindly received as honoured guests by the Lady Alswythe and
the household of the thane.

Once I asked him what his plans were, for we were both strangers,
and I knew him best.

"Presently," he said, "I shall try to get back to Guthrum. While I
am here I will be held as if I were no one--as a harmless ghost who
walks the house, neither