at a time when he did not expect an attack, for they entered the gates
by a sudden onset, when Alfred's followers were scattered about the
town at the various houses to which they had been distributed. They
made no attempt to defend themselves, but were taken prisoners one by
one, wherever they were found. They were bound with cords, and carried
away like ordinary criminals.

Of Alfred's ten principal Norman companions, nine were beheaded. For
some reason or other the life of one was spared. Alfred himself
was charged with having violated the peace of his country, and was
condemned to lose his eyes. The torture of this operation, and the
inflammation which followed, destroyed the unhappy prince's life.
Neither Emma nor Godwin did any thing to save him. It was wise policy,
no doubt, in Emma to disavow all connection with her son's unfortunate
attempt, now that it had failed; and ambitious queens have to follow
the dictates of policy instead of obeying such impulses as maternal
love. She was, however, secretly indignant at the cruel fate which her
son had endured, and she considered Godwin as having betrayed him.

After this dreadful disappointment, Emma was not likely to make any
farther attempts to place either of her sons upon the throne; but
Harold seems to have distrusted her, for he banished her from the
realm. She had still her Saxon son in Normandy, Alfred's brother
Edward, and her Danish son in Denmark. She went to Flanders, and there
sent to Hardicanute, urging him by the most earnest importunities to
come to England and assert his claims to the crown. He was doubly
bound to do it now, she said, as the blood of his murdered brother
called for retribution, and he could have no honorable rest or peace
until he had avenged it.