There were the Welsh, who were always turbulent; the Danes of
Northumbria, who were still a distinct people, although throughout
the rest of England their identity was fast being merged into that
of the Saxons. There were the Norsemen, still ready to take every
opportunity of interfering in the affairs of England, or, if none
offered, to plunder and harry the coast. There were the earls of
Mercia, who bore no great love to the house of Godwin, and who
resented the ascendency of the West Saxons. Lastly, there was
Harold's brother Tostig, a fiery and turbulent noble, now Earl of
Northumbria, who was jealous of Harold, ever ready to join in plots,
and in close alliance with Norway already; he had several times
withstood the royal authority, and would assuredly again become a
fomenter of trouble should he see a favourable opportunity. At the
king's death, if not before, that opportunity would be sure to
present itself. Harold would be certainly chosen king by the people
of London and by the West Saxons, but almost as certainly would his
claim be disputed by the earls of Mercia on one hand, and by Tostig
and the Danes on the other. Wulf was sure, therefore, that the work
spent in preparing his tenants to take the field when called upon
to do so, would not be wasted.

Full of these thoughts he rode for some miles from Westminster
without addressing himself to the two men behind him; then, bethinking
him that these were trusted followers of the earl, and had been
specially told off by him to accompany and stay with him, he called
them up to his side. Wulf had donned a riding suit instead of court
attire, which, in deference to the king's partiality for the Normans,
was, even among the staunchest opposers of the foreigners, a
compromise between Saxon and Norman fashions. He now wore a tunic