ped it into
three fathoms of water as I rode by the mere one day. There are
foolishnesses one does not care to be reminded of.

CHAPTER XII. OF THE MESSAGE BROUGHT BY JAGO, AND A MEETING IN DARTMOOR.

As one may be sure, there was no danger for me at Winchester, and
if I had any anxiety at all it was for Owen, who had dangers round
him which I did not know. I had sent him word by that old friend of
his, Jago of Norton, how the last warning was justified, and had
heard from him that with the imprisonment of Dunwal his last
enemies seemed to have been removed or quieted. So I was more at
ease concerning him, and presently rode with Erpwald to Eastdean in
the fair May weather to see the beginning of that church which
should keep the memory of my father.

And all I will say concerning that is that when I came to visit the
old home once more I knew that I had chosen right. The life of a
forest thane was not for me, and Eastdean seemed to have nought of
pleasure for me, save in a sort of wonderment in seeing how my
dreams had kept so little of aught of the true look of the place.
In them it had grown and grown, as it were, and now I was
disappointed with it. I suppose that it is always so with what one
has not seen since childhood, and for me it was as well. I felt no
shadow of regret for the choice I had made.

So after the foundation was laid with all due rites, I went back to
the king and found him at Chippenham, for he was passing hither and
thither about his realm, as was his wont, biding for weeks or maybe
months here, and so elsewhere, to see that all went well. And I
knew that in Erpwald and his mother I left good and firm friends
behind me, and that all would be done as I should have wished. Ay,
and maybe better than I could have asked, for what Erpwald took in
hand in his plain single-heartedness was carried through without
stint.

Through Chippenham come the western chapmen and tin traders, and so
we had news from the court at Exeter that all was well and quiet,
and so I deemed that there was no more trouble to be feared. It
seemed as if Owen had taken his place, and that every foe was
stilled.

And yet there grew on me an uneasiness that arose from a strange
dream, or vision, if you will, that came to me one night and
haunted me thereafter, so soon as ever my eyes closed, so that I
grew to fear it somewhat. And yet there seemed nothing in it, as
one may say. It was a vision of a place, and no more,