and her sweet voice so touched the good thegn, that, murmuring a
blessing on her fair face, he turned and departed.

Hilda then proceeded, with a light and skilful hand, to examine the
wounds of her patient. She opened the tunic, and washed away the
blood from four gaping orifices on the breast and shoulders. And as
she did so, Edith uttered a faint cry, and falling on her knees, bowed
her head over the drooping hand, and kissed it with stifling emotions,
of which perhaps grateful joy was the strongest; for over the heart of
Harold was punctured, after the fashion of the Saxons, a device--and
that device was the knot of betrothal, and in the centre of the knot
was graven the word "Edith."




CHAPTER III.


Whether, owing to Hilda's runes, or to the merely human arts which
accompanied them, the Earl's recovery was rapid, though the great loss
of blood he had sustained left him awhile weak and exhausted. But,
perhaps, he blessed the excuse which detained him still in the house
of Hilda, and under the eyes of Edith.

He dismissed the leach sent to him by Vebba, and confided, not without
reason, to the Vala's skill. And how happily went his hours beneath
the old Roman roof!

It was not without a superstition, more characterised, however, by