The anticipations of Elfric were not far wrong. Dunstan had found out
the truth. He had sought out the old thane to condole with him upon the
pain he supposed he must recently have inflicted by his letter.

"I cannot express to you, my old friend and brother," he said, "the
great pain with which I sent your poor boy Elfric home, but it was a
necessity."

"Sent him home?" said Ella.

"Yes, at the time our lamented Edred died."

"Sent him home!" repeated Ella, in such undisguised amazement that
Dunstan soon perceived something was amiss, and in a few short minutes
became possessed of the whole facts, while Ella learnt his son's disgrace.

They conferred long and earnestly. The father's heart was sorely
wounded, but he could not think that Elfric would resist his commands,
and he promised to take him back at once to Aescendune, where he hoped
all would soon be well--"soon, very soon," he said falteringly.

So the old thane went to his lodgings, hard by the palace, where he
awaited his son.

Late in the evening Elfric arrived, his countenance flushed with wine:
he had been seeking courage for the part he had to play in the wine cup.

Long and painful, most painful, was the interview that followed.
Hardened in his rebellion, the unhappy Elfric defied his father's
authority and justified his sin, flatly refusing to return home, in