"I think thou art right," said the tall abbot, cheerily, and marry,
when the day comes, I will at least fight for the Duke. Yea--thou art
right," he continued, looking round the dilapidated walls of the cell;
"all here is worn out, and naught can restore the realm, save the
Norman William, or----"

"Or who?"

"Or the Saxon Harold. But thou goest to see him--judge for thyself."

"I will do so, and heedfully," said the Sire de Graville; and
embracing his friend he renewed his journey.




CHAPTER VII.


Messire Mallet de Graville possessed in perfection that cunning
astuteness which characterised the Normans, as it did all the old
pirate races of the Baltic; and if, O reader, thou, peradveuture,
shouldst ever in this remote day have dealings with the tall men of
Ebor or Yorkshire, there wilt thou yet find the old Dane-father's wit
--it may be to thy cost--more especially if treating for those animals
which the ancestors ate, and which the sons, without eating, still
manage to fatten on.

But though the crafty knight did his best, during his progress from