"Thou art right with thy woman's wit, wife. And for the last few
weeks, though I said it not to alarm thee, I have had strange noises
in my ears, and a surge, as of blood, to the temples."

"O Godwin! dear spouse," said Githa, tenderly, "and I was blind to the
cause, but wondered why there was some change in thy manner! But I
will go to Hilda to-morrow; she hath charms against all disease."

"Leave Hilda in peace, to give her charms to the young; age defies
Wigh and Wicca. Now hearken to me. I feel that my thread is nigh
spent, and, as Hilda would say, my Fylgia forewarns me that we are
about to part. Silence, I say, and hear me. I have done proud things
in my day; I have made kings and built thrones, and I stand higher in
England than ever thegn or earl stood before. I would not, Githa,
that the tree of my house, planted in the storm, and watered with
lavish blood, should wither away."

The old Earl paused, and Githa said, loftily:

"Fear not that thy name will pass from the earth, or thy race from
power. For fame has been wrought by thy hands, and sons have been
born to thy embrace; and the boughs of the tree thou hast planted
shall live in the sunlight when we its roots, O my husband, are buried
in the earth."

"Githa," replied the Earl, "thou speakest as the daughter of kings and
the mother of men; but listen to me, for my soul is heavy. Of these
our sons, or first-born, alas! is a wanderer and outcast--Sweyn, once
the beautiful and brave; and Wolnoth, thy darling, is a guest in the
court of the Norman, our foe. Of the rest, Gurth is so mild and so