They ended, and the silence came again. It seemed long, and weighed on
me like a thunderstorm in the air, nor should I have started had the
whole assembly broken into one thunderclap of hatred of me. But instead
of that, came the calm voice of Ealhstan the Bishop:

"Eanulf and freemen of Somerset, there is one who witnesses for this
Heregar more plainly than all these. That witness is himself, in his
youth and inexperience. What are the wild words a boy will say? Who will
plot against a mighty king with a boy for partner? What weight have his
words? What help can come from his following? It seems to me that
Matelgar the Thane and these friends of his might well have laughed away
all these foolishnesses, rather than hoard them up to bring before this
solemn council. This, too, I hold for injustice, that one should be kept
in ward till his trial, unknowing of all that is against him, unhelped
by the counsel of any freeman, and unable to send word to those who
should stand by him at his trial. Indeed, this thing must be righted, I
tell you, before England is a free land."

At that there went a sound of assent round the Moot, and it seems to me,
looking back, that that trial of mine, hard as it was to bear, was yet
the beginning of good to all the land, by reason of those words which it
taught the bishop to say, and which found an abiding place in the hearts
of the honest men who heard; so that in these days of Alfred, our wise
king, they have borne fruit.

Then Eanulf signed to my guards, and they led me away and over the brow
of the hill, that the Moot might speak its mind on me. There my guards
bade me sit down, and I did so, resting head on hands, and thinking of
nought, as it seemed to me, until suddenly rose up hate of Matelgar, and
of Eanulf, and of all that great assembly, and of all the world.