evening prayers.[iii] On the left hand were domestic offices.

Upon the steps of his hall stood Ella, the Thane of Aescendune, the
representative of a long line of warlike ancestors, who had occupied the
soil since the Saxon conquest of Mercia.

He was clad in a woollen tunic reaching to the knee, over which a cloak
fastened by a clasp of gold was loosely thrown; and his feet were clad
in black pointed boots, while strips of painted leather were wound over
red stockings from the knee to the ankle.

"You are late, my sons," he said, "and I perceive you have brought us a
visitor. He is welcome."

"Father," said Elfric, in a voice somewhat expressive of awe, "it is
Prince Edwy!"

The thane had in his earlier days been at court, and had known the
murdered Edmund, the royal father of his guest, intimately. It was not
without emotion, therefore, that he welcomed the son to his home, and
saluted him with that manly yet reverential homage their relative
positions required of him.

"Welcome, thrice welcome, my prince," he said, "to these humble halls."
He added, with some emotion, "I could think the royal Edmund stood
before me, as I knew him while yet myself a youth."

The domestics, who had assembled, gazed upon their visitor with country
curiosity, yet were not wanting in rude but expressive courtesy; and
soon he was conducted to the best chamber the house afforded, where