ville of Guildford, I think ye call it,--fair quarters enow. At the
dead of the night rush in King Harold's men, seize prince and
follower, six hundred men in all; and next morning, saving only every
tenth man, they are tortured and put to death. The prince is born off
to London, and shortly afterwards his eyes are torn out in the Islet
of Ely, and he dies of the anguish! That ye should love Earl Godwin
withal may be strange, but yet possible. But is it possible, cher
Envoy, for the King to love the man who thus betrayed his brother to
the shambles?"

"All this is a Norman fable," said the Thegn of Kent, with a disturbed
visage; "and Godwin cleared himself on oath of all share in the foul
murder of Alfred."

"The oath, I have heard, was backed," said the knight drily, "by a
present to Hardicanute, who after the death of King Harold resolved to
avenge the black butchery; a present, I say, of a gilt ship, manned by
fourscore warriors with gold-hilted swords, and gilt helms.--But let
this pass."

"Let it pass," echoed Vebba with a sigh. "Bloody were those times,
and unholy their secrets."

"Yet answer me still, why love you Earl Godwin? He hath changed sides
from party to party, and in each change won lordships and lands. He
is ambitious and grasping, ye all allow; for the ballads sung in your
streets liken him to the thorn and the bramble, at which the sheep
leaves his wool. He is haughty and overbearing. Tell me, O Saxon,
frank Saxon, why you love Godwin the Earl? Fain would I know; for,
please the saints (and you and your Earl so permitting), I mean to