"Know you not by whom these charges are brought?"

"Truly, I know not, Lord Eanulf," I answered, "for no man may say these
things of me, save he lies."

"Have you enemies?" he asked.

"None known to me," I told him truthfully, for I had, as my father,
lived at peace with all.

"Then is the testimony of those against you the heavier," said the
ealdorman.

And with that he turned to the bishop before I could make reply; and
they spoke together for a while in Latin, which I knew not.

So I looked to my friend Matelgar for comfort, but he seemed to see me
not, looking away elsewhere. And I thought him plainly troubled for me,
for his face was white, and the hand on which his chin rested was
turning the ends of his beard between his teeth, so that he bit it--as
I had seen him do before when in doubt or perplexity.

As I watched him, the bishop spoke in Saxon, saying that it would be
well to call the accusers first and hear them, that I might make such
reply as was possible to me.

"For," said he, "it seems to me that this Heregar speaks truth in saying
that he knows not his accusers."