PREFACE.


The tale now presented to the indulgence of the public is the second
of a series of tales, each complete in itself, which, as stated in the
preface to the first of the series, have been told to the senior boys
of a large school, in order to secure their interest in historical
characters, and to illustrate great epochs in human affairs by the aid
of fiction.

Yet the Author has distinctly felt that fiction must always, in such
cases, be subordinate to truth, and that it is only legitimately used
as a vehicle of instruction when it fills up the gaps in the outline,
without contradicting them in any respect, or interfering with their
due order and sequence.

Therefore he has attempted in every instance to consult such original
authorities as lay within his reach, and has done his best to present
an honest picture of the times.

The period selected on the present occasion is full of the deepest
interest. The English and the Danish invaders of their soil were
struggling desperately for the possession of England--a struggle
aggravated by religious bitterness, and by the sanguinary nature of
the Danish creed.

The reign of Ethelred the Unready, from his accession, after the
murder of his innocent brother, until the scene depicted in the
nineteenth chapter of the tale, was a tragedy ever deepening. Its
details will seem dark enough as read herein, but how utterly dark