him the crown."

"Already have I answered,--the crown is not mine to give; and my
people stand round me in arms to defend the king of their choice.
What next?"

"Next, offers William to withdraw his troops from the land, if thou
and thy council and chiefs will submit to the arbitrement of our most
holy Pontiff, Alexander the Second, and, abide by his decision whether
thou or my liege have the best right to the throne."

"This, as Churchman," said the Abbot of the great Convent of
Peterboro', (who, with the Abbot of Hide, had joined the march of
Harold, deeming as one the cause of altar and throne), "this as
Churchman, may I take leave to answer. Never yet hath it been heard
in England, that the spiritual suzerain of Rome should give us our
kings."

"And," said Harold, with a bitter smile, "the Pope hath already
summoned me to this trial, as if the laws of England were kept in the
rolls of the Vatican! Already, if rightly informed, the Pope hath
been pleased to decide that our Saxon land is the Norman's. I reject
a judge without a right to decide; and I mock at a sentence that
profanes heaven in its insult to men. Is this all?"

"One last offer yet remains," replied the monk sternly. "This knight
shall deliver its import. But ere I depart, and thou and thine are
rendered up to Vengeance Divine, I speak the words of a mightier chief
than William of Rouen. Thus saith his Holiness, with whom rests the
power to bind and to loose, to bless and to curse: 'Harold, the