boughs hung the barbed ice-gems; and the crown was on the brows of
Harold! and at night, within the walls of the convent, Edith heard the
hymns of the kneeling monks; and the blasts howled, and the storm
arose, and the voices of destroying hurricanes were blent with the
swell of the choral hymns.




CHAPTER IV.


Tostig sate in the halls of Bruges, and with him sate Judith, his
haughty wife. The Earl and his Countess were playing at chess, (or
the game resembling it, which amused the idlesse of that age,) and the
Countess had put her lord's game into mortal disorder, when Tostig
swept his hand over the board, and the pieces rolled on the floor.

"That is one way to prevent defeat," said Judith, with a half smile
and half frown.

"It is the way of the bold and the wise, wife mine," answered Tostig,
rising, "let all be destruction where thou thyself canst win not!
Peace to these trifles! I cannot keep my mind to the mock fight; it
flies to the real. Our last news sours the taste of the wine, and
steals the sleep from my couch. It says that Edward cannot live
through the winter, and that all men bruit abroad, there can be no
king save Harold my brother."

"And will thy brother as King give to thee again thy domain as Earl?"