to sell them to me.' So he sighed, for the place is his home."

"All these years it has been no trouble to me that Erpwald's
brother has held the place, my King. It will be no trouble to think
that a better Erpwald holds them yet."

"I do not think that he will be happy unless he deems that he has
paid some price--some weregild {ii}, as one may say; for slow
minds as his hang closely to their thoughts when they are formed.
See, Oswald, I have thought of all this, and the young man has been
here for a fortnight. I brought him here from Winchester, where he
joined me. Let me tell you what I think."

"The matter is in your hands altogether, my King."

"As you have set it there," he said, smiling gently. "Now all seems
plain to me, and I will say that this is even what I thought you
would wish to do. How shall it be if we bid Erpwald, for the deed
of his father, to build a church in Eastdean and there to keep a
priest, that all men shall know how that the martyr is honoured,
and the land be the better for his death?"

Nought better than this could be, as I thought, and I told the king
so.

"Why, then," he said, "that is well. I shall have pleased both
parties, as I hope. I know you will meet him in all friendliness."

Then he let me go, and it was with a light heart that I parted from
him. Now I knew that my father's grave and memory would be held in