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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7679.txt b/7679.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a44acde --- /dev/null +++ b/7679.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1528 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Harold, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Book 8. +#107 in our series by Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: Harold, Book 8. + The Last Of The Saxon Kings + +Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Release Date: March 2005 [EBook #7679] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 8, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAROLD, BY LYTTON, BOOK 8 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen +and David Widger + + + + + +BOOK VIII. + + +FATE. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Some days after the tragical event with which the last chapter closed, +the ships of the Saxons were assembled in the wide waters of Conway; +and on the small fore-deck of the stateliest vessel, stood Harold, +bareheaded, before Aldyth, the widowed Queen. For the faithful bard +had fallen by the side of his lord; . . . the dark promise was +unfulfilled, and the mangled clay of the jealous Gryffyth slept alone +in the narrow bed. A chair of state, with dossel and canopy, was set +for the daughter of Algar, and behind stood maidens of Wales, selected +in haste for her attendants. + +But Aldyth had not seated herself; and, side by side with her dead +lord's great victor, thus she spoke: + +"Woe worth the day and the hour when Aldyth left the hall of her +fathers and the land of her birth! Her robe of a queen has been rent +and torn over an aching heart, and the air she has breathed has reeked +as with blood. I go forth, widowed, and homeless, and lonely; but my +feet shall press the soil of my sires, and my lips draw the breath +which came sweet and pure to my childhood. And thou, O Harold, +standest beside me, like the shape of my own youth, and the dreams of +old come back at the sound of thy voice. Fare thee well, noble heart +and true Saxon. Thou hast twice saved the child of thy foe--first +from shame, then from famine. Thou wouldst have saved my dread lord +from open force, and dark murder; but the saints were wroth, the blood +of my kinsfolk, shed by his hand, called for vengeance, and the +shrines he had pillaged and burned murmured doom from their desolate +altars. Peace be with the dead, and peace with the living! I shall +go back to my father and brethren; and if the fame and life of child +and sister be dear to them, their swords will never more leave their +sheaths against Harold. So thy hand, and God guard thee!" + +Harold raised to his lips the hand which the Queen extended to him; +and to Aldyth now seemed restored the rare beauty of her youth; as +pride and sorrow gave her the charm of emotion, which love and duty +had failed to bestow. + +"Life and health to thee, noble lady," said the Earl. "Tell thy +kindred from me, that for thy sake, and thy grandsire's, I would fain +be their brother and friend; were they but united with me, all England +were now safe against every foe, and each peril. Thy daughter already +awaits thee in the halls of Morcar; and when time has scarred the +wounds of the past, may thy joys re-bloom in the face of thy child. +Farewell, noble Aldyth!" + +He dropped the hand he had held till then, turned slowly to the side +of the vessel, and re-entered his boat. As he was rowed back to +shore, the horn gave the signal for raising anchor, and the ship, +righting itself, moved majestically through the midst of the fleet. +But Aldyth still stood erect, and her eyes followed the boat that bore +away the secret love of her youth. + +As Harold reached the shore, Tostig and the Norman, who had been +conversing amicably together on the beach, advanced towards the Earl. + +"Brother," said Tostig, smiling, "it were easy for thee to console the +fair widow, and bring to our House all the force of East Anglia and +Mercia." Harold's face slightly changed, but he made no answer. + +"A marvellous fair dame," said the Norman, "notwithstanding her cheek +be somewhat pinched, and the hue sun-burnt. And I wonder not that the +poor cat-king kept her so close to his side." + +"Sir Norman," said the Earl, hastening to change the subject, "the war +is now over, and, for long years, Wales will leave our Marches in +peace.--This eve I propose to ride hence towards London, and we will +converse by the way." + +"Go you so soon?" cried the knight, surprised. "Shall you not take +means utterly to subjugate this troublesome race, parcel out the lands +among your thegns, to hold as martial fiefs at need, build towers and +forts on the heights, and at the river mouths?--where a site, like +this, for some fair castle and vawmure? In a word, do you Saxons +merely overrun, and neglect to hold what you win?" + +"We fight in self-defence, not for conquest, Sir Norman. We have no +skill in building castles; and I pray you not to hint to my thegns the +conceit of dividing a land, as thieves would their plunder. King +Gryffyth is dead, and his brothers will reign in his stead. England +has guarded her realm, and chastised the aggressors. What need +England do more? We are not like our first barbarous fathers, carving +out homes with the scythe of their saexes. The wave settles after the +flood, and the races of men after lawless convulsions." + +Tostig smiled, in disdain, at the knight, who mused a little over the +strange words he had heard, and then silently followed the Earl to the +fort. + +But when Harold gained his chamber, he found there an express, arrived +in haste from Chester, with the news that Algar, the sole enemy and +single rival of his power, was no more. Fever, occasioned by +neglected wounds, had stretched him impotent on a bed of sickness, and +his fierce passions had aided the march of disease; the restless and +profitless race was run. + +The first emotion which these tidings called forth was that of pain. +The bold sympathise with the bold; and in great hearts, there is +always a certain friendship for a gallant foe. But recovering the +shock of that first impression, Harold could not but feel that England +was free from its most dangerous subject--himself from the only +obstacle apparent to the fulfilment of his luminous career. + +"Now, then, to London," whispered the voice of his ambition. "Not a +foe rests to trouble the peace of that empire which thy conquests, O +Harold, have made more secure and compact than ever yet has been the +realm of the Saxon kings. Thy way through the country that thou hast +henceforth delivered from the fire and sword of the mountain ravager, +will be one march of triumph, like a Roman's of old; and the voice of +the people will echo the hearts of the army; those hearts are thine +own. Verily Hilda is a prophetess; and when Edward rests with the +saints, from what English heart will not burst the cry, 'LONG LIVE +HAROLD THE KING?'" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The Norman rode by the side of Harold, in the rear of the victorious +armament. The ships sailed to their havens, and Tostig departed to +his northern earldom. + +"And now," said Harold, "I am at leisure to thank thee, brave Norman, +for more than thine aid in council and war;--at leisure now to turn to +the last prayer of Sweyn, and the often-shed tears of Githa my mother, +for Wolnoth the exile. Thou seest with thine own eyes that there is +no longer pretext or plea for thy Count to detain these hostages. +Thou shalt hear from Edward himself that he no longer asks sureties +for the faith of the House of Godwin; and I cannot think that Duke +William would have suffered thee to bring me over this news from the +dead if he were not prepared to do justice to the living." + +"Your speech, Earl of Wessex, goes near to the truth. But, to speak +plainly and frankly, I think William, my lord, hath a keen desire to +welcome in person a chief so illustrious as Harold, and I guess that +he keeps the hostages to make thee come to claim them." The knight, +as he spoke, smiled gaily; but the cunning of the Norman gleamed in +the quick glance of his clear hazel eye. + +"Fain must I feel pride at such wish, if you flatter me not," said +Harold; "and I would gladly myself, now the land is in peace, and my +presence not needful, visit a court of such fame. I hear high praise +from cheapman and pilgrim of Count William's wise care for barter and +trade, and might learn much from the ports of the Seine that would +profit the marts of the Thames. Much, too, I hear of Count William's +zeal to revive the learning of the Church, aided by Lanfranc the +Lombard; much I hear of the pomp of his buildings, and the grace of +his court. All this would I cheerfully cross the ocean to see; but +all this would but sadden my heart if I returned without Haco and +Wolnoth." + +"I dare not speak so as to plight faith for the Duke," said the +Norman, who, though sharp to deceive, had that rein on his conscience +that it did not let him openly lie; "but this I do know, that there +are few things in his Countdom which my lord would not give to clasp +the right hand of Harold and feel assured of his friendship." + +Though wise and farseeing, Harold was not suspicious;--no Englishman, +unless it were Edward himself, knew the secret pretensions of William +to the English throne; and he answered simply: + +"It were well, indeed, both for Normandy and England, both against +foes and for trade, to be allied and well-liking. I will think over +your words, Sire de Graville, and it shall not be my fault if old +feuds be not forgotten, and those now in thy court be the last +hostages ever kept by the Norman for the faith of the Saxon." + +With that he turned the discourse; and the aspiring and able envoy, +exhilarated by the hope of a successful mission, animated the way by +remarks--alternately lively and shrewd--which drew the brooding Earl +from those musings, which had now grown habitual to a mind once clear +and open as the day. + +Harold had not miscalculated the enthusiasm his victories had excited. +Where he passed, all the towns poured forth their populations to see +and to hail him; and on arriving at the metropolis, the rejoicings in +his honour seemed to equal those which had greeted, at the accession +of Edward, the restoration of the line of Cerdic. + +According to the barbarous custom of the age, the head of the +unfortunate sub-king, and the prow of his special war-ship, had been +sent to Edward as the trophies of conquest: but Harold's uniform +moderation respected the living. The race of Gryffyth [174] were re- +established on the tributary throne of that hero, in the persons of +his brothers, Blethgent and Rigwatle, "and they swore oaths," says the +graphic old chronicler, "and delivered hostages to the King and the +Earl that they would be faithful to him in all things, and be +everywhere ready for him, by water, and by land, and make such renders +from the land as had been done before to any other king." + +Not long after this, Mallet de Graville returned to Normandy, with +gifts for William from King Edward, and special requests from that +prince, as well as from the Earl, to restore the hostages. But +Mallet's acuteness readily perceived, that in much Edward's mind had +been alienated from William. It was clear, that the Duke's marriage +and the pledges that had crowned the union were distasteful to the +asceticism of the saint king: and with Godwin's death, and Tostig's +absence from the court, seemed to have expired all Edward's bitterness +towards that powerful family of which Harold was now the head. Still, +as no subject out of the House of Cerdic had ever yet been elected to +the Saxon throne, there was no apprehension on Mallet's mind that in +Harold was the true rival to William's cherished aspirations. Though +Edward the Atheling was dead, his son Edgar lived, the natural heir to +the throne; and the Norman, (whose liege had succeeded to the Duchy at +the age of eight,) was not sufficiently cognisant of the invariable +custom of the Anglo-Saxons, to set aside, whether for kingdoms or for +earldoms, all claimants unfitted for rule by their tender years. He +could indeed perceive that the young Atheling's minority was in favour +of his Norman liege, and would render him but a weak defender of the +realm, and that there seemed no popular attachment to the infant +orphan of the Germanised exile: his name was never mentioned at the +court, nor had Edward acknowledged him as heir,--a circumstance which +he interpreted auspiciously for William. Nevertheless, it was clear +that, both at court and amongst the people, the Norman influence in +England was at the lowest ebb; and that the only man who could restore +it, and realise the cherished dreams of his grasping lord, was Harold +the all-powerful. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Trusting, for the time, to the success of Edward's urgent demand for +the release of his kinsmen, as well as his own, Harold was now +detained at the court by all those arrears of business which had +accumulated fast under the inert hands of the monk-king during the +prolonged campaigns against the Welch; but he had leisure at least for +frequent visits to the old Roman house; and those visits were not more +grateful to his love than to the harder and more engrossing passion +which divided his heart. + +The nearer he grew to the dazzling object, to the possession of which +Fate seemed to have shaped all circumstances, the more he felt the +charm of those mystic influences which his colder reason had +disdained. He who is ambitious of things afar, and uncertain, passes +at once into the Poet-Land of Imagination; to aspire and to imagine +are yearnings twin-born. + +When in his fresh youth and his calm lofty manhood, Harold saw action, +how adventurous soever, limited to the barriers of noble duty; when he +lived but for his country, all spread clear before his vision in the +sunlight of day; but as the barriers receded, while the horizon +extended, his eye left the Certain to rest on the Vague. As self, +though still half concealed from his conscience, gradually assumed the +wide space love of country had filled, the maze of delusion commenced: +he was to shape fate out of circumstance,--no longer defy fate through +virtue; and thus Hilda became to him as a voice that answered the +questions of his own restless heart. He needed encouragement from the +Unknown to sanction his desires and confirm his ends. But Edith, +rejoicing in the fair fame of her betrothed, and content in the pure +rapture of beholding him again, reposed in the divine credulity of the +happy hour; she marked not, in Harold's visits, that, on entrance, the +Earl's eye sought first the stern face of the Vala--she wondered not +why those two conversed in whispers together, or stood so often at +moonlight by the Runic grave. Alone, of all womankind, she felt that +Harold loved her, that that love had braved time, absence, change, and +hope deferred; and she knew not that what love has most to dread in +the wild heart of aspiring man, is not persons, but things,--is not +things, but their symbols. + +So weeks and months rolled on, and Duke William returned no answer to +the demands for his hostages. And Harold's heart smote him, that he +neglected his brother's prayer and his mother's accusing tears. + +Now Githa, since the death of her husband, had lived in seclusion and +apart from town; and one day Harold was surprised by her unexpected +arrival at the large timbered house in London, which had passed to his +possession. As she abruptly entered the room in which he sate, he +sprang forward to welcome and embrace her; but she waved him back with +a grave and mournful gesture, and sinking on one knee, she said thus: + +"See, the mother is a suppliant to the son for the son. No, Harold, +no--I will not rise till thou hast heard me. For years, long and +lonely, have I lingered and pined,--long years! Will my boy know his +mother again? Thou hast said to me, 'Wait till the messenger +returns.' I have waited. Thou hast said, 'This time the Count cannot +resist the demand of the King.' I bowed my head and submitted to thee +as I had done to Godwin my lord. And I have not till now claimed thy +promise; for I allowed thy country, thy King, and thy fame to have +claims more strong than a mother. Now I tarry no more; now no more +will I be amused and deceived. Thine hours are thine own--free thy +coming and thy going. Harold, I claim thine oath. Harold, I touch +thy right hand. Harold, I remind thee of thy troth and thy plight, to +cross the seas thyself, and restore the child to the mother." + +"Oh, rise, rise!" exclaimed Harold, deeply moved. "Patient hast thou +been, O my mother, and now I will linger no more, nor hearken to other +voice than your own. I will see the King this day, and ask his leave +to cross the sea to Duke William." + +Then Githa rose, and fell on the Earl's breast weeping. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +It so chanced, while this interview took place between Githa and the +Earl, that Gurth, hawking in the woodlands round Hilda's house, turned +aside to visit his Danish kinswoman. The prophetess was absent, but +he was told that Edith was within; and Gurth, about to be united to a +maiden who had long won his noble affections, cherished a brother's +love for his brother's fair betrothed. He entered the gynoecium, and +there still, as when we were first made present in that chamber, sate +the maids, employed on a work more brilliant to the eye, and more +pleasing to the labour, than that which had then tasked their active +hands. They were broidering into a tissue of the purest gold the +effigy of a fighting warrior, designed by Hilda for the banner of Earl +Harold: and, removed from the awe of their mistress, as they worked +their tongues sang gaily, and it was in the midst of song and laughter +that the fair young Saxon lord entered the chamber. The babble and +the mirth ceased at his entrance; each voice was stilled, each eye +cast down demurely. Edith was not amongst them, and in answer to his +inquiry the eldest of the maidens pointed towards the peristyle +without the house. + +The winning and kindly thegn paused a few moments, to admire the +tissue and commend the work, and then sought the peristyle. + +Near the water-spring that gushed free and bright through the Roman +fountain, he found Edith, seated in an attitude of deep thought and +gloomy dejection. She started as he approached, and, springing +forward to meet him, exclaimed: + +"O Gurth, Heaven hath sent thee to me, I know well, though I cannot +explain to thee why, for I cannot explain it to myself; but know I do, +by the mysterious bodements of my own soul, that some great danger is +at this moment encircling thy brother Harold. Go to him, I pray, I +implore thee, forthwith; and let thy clear sense and warm heart be by +his side." + +"I will go instantly," said Gurth, startled. "But do not suffer, I +adjure thee, sweet kinswoman, the superstition that wraps this place, +as a mist wraps a marsh, to infect thy pure spirit. In my early youth +I submitted to the influence of Hilda; I became man, and outgrew it. +Much, secretly, has it grieved me of late, to see that our kinswoman's +Danish lore has brought even the strong heart of Harold under his +spell; and where once he only spoke of duty, I now hear him speak of +fate." + +"Alas! alas!" answered Edith, wringing her hands; "when the bird hides +its head in the brake, doth it shut out the track of the hound? Can +we baffle fate by refusing to heed its approaches? But we waste +precious moments. Go, Gurth, dear Gurth! Heavier and darker, while +we speak, gathers the cloud on my heart." + +Gurth said no more, but hastened to remount his steed; and Edith +remained alone by the Roman fountain, motionless and sad, as if the +nymph of the old religion stood there to see the lessening stream well +away from the shattered stone, and know that the life of the nymph was +measured by the ebb of the stream. + +Gurth arrived in London just as Harold was taking a boat for the +palace of Westminster, to seek the King; and, after interchanging a +hurried embrace with his mother, he accompanied Harold to the palace, +and learned his errand by the way. While Harold spoke, he did not +foresee any danger to be incurred by a friendly visit to the Norman +court; and the interval that elapsed between Harold's communication +and their entrance into the King's chamber, allowed no time for mature +and careful reflection. + +Edward, on whom years and infirmity had increased of late with rapid +ravage, heard Harold's request with a grave and deep attention, which +he seldom vouchsafed to earthly affairs. And he remained long silent +after his brother-in-law had finished;--so long silent, that the Earl, +at first, deemed that he was absorbed in one of those mystic and +abstracted reveries, in which, more and more as he grew nearer to the +borders of the World Unseen, Edward so strangely indulged. But, +looking more close, both he and Gurth were struck by the evident +dismay on the King's face, while the collected light of Edward's cold +eye showed that his mind was awake to the human world. In truth, it +is probable that Edward, at that moment, was recalling rash hints, if +not promises, to his rapacious cousin of Normandy, made during his +exile. And, sensible of his own declining health, and the tender +years of the young Edgar, he might be musing over the terrible +pretender to the English throne, whose claims his earlier indiscretion +might seem to sanction. + +Whatever his thoughts, they were dark and sinister, as at length he +said, slowly: + +"Is thine oath indeed given to thy mother, and doth she keep thee to +it?" + +"Both, O King," answered Harold, briefly. + +"Then I can gainsay thee not. And thou, Harold, art a man of this +living world; thou playest here the part of a centurion; thou sayst +'Come,' and men come--'Go,' and men move at thy will. Therefore thou +mayest well judge for thyself. I gainsay thee not, nor interfere +between man and his vow. But think not," continued the King in a more +solemn voice, and with increasing emotion, "think not that I will +charge my soul that I counselled or encouraged this errand. Yea, I +foresee that thy journey will lead but to great evil to England, and +sore grief or dire loss to thee." [175] + +"How so, dear lord and King?" said Harold, startled by Edward's +unwonted earnestness, though deeming it but one of the visionary +chimeras habitual to the saint. "How so? William thy cousin hath +ever borne the name of one fair to friend, though fierce to foe. And +foul indeed his dishonour, if he could meditate harm to a man trusting +his faith, and sheltered by his own roof-tree." + +"Harold, Harold," said Edward, impatiently, "I know William of old. +Nor is he so simple of mind, that he will cede aught for thy pleasure, +or even to my will, unless it bring some gain to himself [176]. I say +no more.--Thou art cautioned, and I leave the rest to Heaven." + +It is the misfortune of men little famous for worldly lore, that in +those few occasions when, in that sagacity caused by their very +freedom from the strife and passion of those around, they seem almost +prophetically inspired,--it is their misfortune to lack the power of +conveying to others their own convictions; they may divine, but they +cannot reason: and Harold could detect nothing to deter his purpose, +in a vague fear, based on no other argument than as vague a perception +of the Duke's general character. But Gurth, listening less to his +reason than his devoted love for his brother, took alarm, and said, +after a pause: + +"Thinkest thou, good my King, that the same danger were incurred if +Gurth, instead of Harold, crossed the seas to demand the hostages?" + +"No," said Edward, eagerly, "and so would I counsel. William would +not have the same objects to gain in practising his worldly guile upon +thee. No; methinks that were the prudent course." + +"And the ignoble one for Harold," said the elder brother, almost +indignantly. "Howbeit, I thank thee, gratefully, dear King, for thy +affectionate heed and care. And so the saints guard thee!" + +On leaving the King, a warm discussion between the brothers took +place. But Gurth's arguments were stronger than those of Harold, and +the Earl was driven to rest his persistence on his own special pledge +to Githa. As soon, however, as they had gained their home, that plea +was taken from him; for the moment Gurth related to his mother +Edward's fears and cautions, she, ever mindful of Godwin's preference +for the Earl, and his last commands to her, hastened to release Harold +from his pledge; and to implore him at least to suffer Gurth to be his +substitute to the Norman court. "Listen dispassionately," said Gurth; +"rely upon it that Edward has reasons for his fears, more rational +than those he has given to us. He knows William from his youth +upward, and hath loved him too well to hint doubts of his good faith +without just foundation. Are there no reasons why danger from William +should be special against thyself? While the Normans abounded in the +court, there were rumours that the Duke had some designs on England, +which Edward's preference seemed to sanction: such designs now, in the +altered state of England, were absurd--too frantic, for a prince of +William's reputed wisdom to entertain. Yet he may not unnaturally +seek to regain the former Norman influence in these realms. He knows +that in you he receives the most powerful man in England; that your +detention alone would convulse the country from one end of it to the +other; and enable him, perhaps, to extort from Edward some measures +dishonourable to us all. But against me he can harbour no ill design +--my detention would avail him nothing. And, in truth, if Harold be +safe in England, Gurth must be safe in Rouen? Thy presence here at +the head of our armies guarantees me from wrong. But reverse the +case, and with Gurth in England, is Harold safe in Rouen? I, but a +simple soldier, and homely lord, with slight influence over Edward, no +command in the country, and little practised of speech in the stormy +Witan,--I am just so great that William dare not harm me, but not so +great that he should even wish to harm me." + +"He detains our kinsmen, why not thee!" said Harold. + +"Because with our kinsmen he has at least the pretext that they were +pledged as hostages: because I go simply as guest and envoy. No, to +me danger cannot come. Be ruled, dear Harold." + +"Be ruled, O my son," cried Githa, clasping the Earl's knees, "and do +not let me dread in the depth of the night to see the shade of Godwin, +and hear his voice say, 'Woman, where is Harold?'" + +It was impossible for the Earl's strong understanding to resist the +arguments addressed to it; and, to say truth, he had been more +disturbed that he liked to confess by Edward's sinister forewarnings. +Yet, on the other hand, there were reasons against his acquiescence in +Gurth's proposal. The primary, and, to do him justice, the strongest, +was in his native courage and his generous pride. Should he for the +first time in his life shrink from a peril in the discharge of his +duty; a peril, too, so uncertain and vague? Should he suffer Gurth to +fulfil the pledge he himself had taken? And granting even that Gurth +were safe from whatever danger he individually might incur, did it +become him to accept the proxy? Would Gurth's voice, too, be as +potent as his own in effecting the return of the hostages? + +The next reasons that swayed him were those he could not avow. In +clearing his way to the English throne, it would be of no mean +importance to secure the friendship of the Norman Duke, and the Norman +acquiescence in his pretensions; it would be of infinite service to +remove those prepossessions against his House, which were still rife +with the Normans, who retained a bitter remembrance of their +countrymen decimated [177], it was said, with the concurrence if not +at the order of Godwin, when they accompanied the ill-fated Alfred to +the English shore, and who were yet sore with their old expulsion from +the English court at the return of his father and himself. + +Though it could not enter into his head that William, possessing no +party whatever in England, could himself aspire to the English crown, +yet at Edward's death, there might be pretenders whom the Norman arms +could find ready excuse to sanction. There was the boy Atheling, on +the one side, there was the valiant Norwegian King Hardrada on the +other, who might revive the claims of his predecessor Magnus as heir +to the rights of Canute. So near and so formidable a neighbour as the +Court of the Normans, every object of policy led him to propitiate; +and Gurth, with his unbending hate of all that was Norman, was not, at +least, the most politic envoy he could select for that end. Add to +this, that despite their present reconciliation, Harold could never +long count upon amity with Tostig: and Tostig's connection with +William, through their marriages into the House of Baldwin, was full +of danger to a new throne, to which Tostig would probably be the most +turbulent subject: the influence of this connection how desirable to +counteract! [178] + +Nor could Harold, who, as patriot and statesman, felt deeply the +necessity of reform and regeneration in the decayed edifice of the +English monarchy, willingly lose an occasion to witness all that +William had done to raise so high in renown and civilisation, in +martial fame and commercial prosperity, that petty duchy, which he had +placed on a level with the kingdoms of the Teuton and the Frank. +Lastly, the Normans were the special darlings of the Roman Church. +William had obtained the dispensation to his own marriage with +Matilda; and might not the Norman influence, duly conciliated, back +the prayer which Harold trusted one day to address to the pontiff, and +secure to him the hallowed blessing, without which ambition lost its +charm, and even a throne its splendour? + +All these considerations, therefore, urged the Earl to persist in his +original purpose: but a warning voice in his heart, more powerful than +all, sided with the prayer of Githa, and the arguments of Gurth. In +this state of irresolution, Gurth said seasonably: + +"Bethink thee, Harold, if menaced but with peril to thyself, thou +wouldst have a brave man's right to resist us; but it was of 'great +evil to England' that Edward spoke, and thy reflection must tell thee, +that in this crisis of our country, danger to thee is evil to England +--evil to England thou hast no right to incur." + +"Dear mother, and generous Gurth," said Harold, then joining the two +in one embrace, "ye have well nigh conquered. Give me but two days to +ponder well, and be assured that I will not decide from the rash +promptings of an ill-considered judgment." + +Farther than this they could not then move the Earl; but Gurth was +pleased shortly afterwards to see him depart to Edith, whose fears, +from whatever source they sprang, would, he was certain, come in aid +of his own pleadings. + +But as the Earl rode alone towards the once stately home of the +perished Roman, and entered at twilight the darkening forest-land, his +thoughts were less on Edith than on the Vala, with whom his ambition +had more and more connected his soul. Perplexed by his doubts, and +left dim in the waning lights of human reason, never more +involuntarily did he fly to some guide to interpret the future, and +decide his path. + +As if fate itself responded to the cry of his heart, he suddenly came +in sight of Hilda herself, gathering leaves from elm and ash amidst +the woodland. + +He sprang from his horse and approached her. + +"Hilda," said he, in a low but firm voice, "thou hast often told me +that the dead can advise the living. Raise thou the Scin-laeca of the +hero of old--raise the Ghost, which mine eye, or my fancy, beheld +before, vast and dim by the silent bautastein, and I will stand by thy +side. Fain would I know if thou hast deceived me and thyself; or if, +in truth, to man's guidance Heaven doth vouchsafe saga and rede from +those who have passed into the secret shores of Eternity." + +"The dead," answered Hilda, "will not reveal themselves to eyes +uninitiate save at their own will, uncompelled by charm and rune. To +me their forms can appear distinct through the airy flame; to me, duly +prepared by spells that purge the eye of the spirit, and loosen the +walls of the flesh. I cannot say that what I see in the trance and +the travail of my soul, thou also wilt behold; or even when the vision +hath passed from my sight, and the voice from my ear, only memories, +confused and dim, of what I saw and heard, remain to guide the waking +and common life. But thou shalt stand by my side while I invoke the +phantom, and hear and interpret the words which rush from my lips, and +the runes that take meaning from the sparks of the charmed fire. I +knew ere thou camest, by the darkness and trouble of Edith's soul, +that some shade from the Ash-tree of Life had fallen upon thine." + +Then Harold related what had passed, and placed before Hilda the +doubts that beset him. + +The Prophetess listened with earnest attention; but her mind, when not +under its more mystic influences, being strongly biassed by its +natural courage and ambition, she saw at a glance all the advantages +towards securing the throne predestined to Harold, which might be +effected by his visit to the Norman court, and she held in too great +disdain both the worldly sense and the mystic reveries of the monkish +king (for the believer in Odin was naturally incredulous of the +visitation of the Christian saints) to attach much weight to his +dreary predictions. + +The short reply she made was therefore not calculated to deter Harold +from the expedition in dispute. But she deferred till the following +night, and to wisdom more dread than her own, the counsels that should +sway his decision. + +With a strange satisfaction at the thought that he should, at least, +test personally the reality of those assumptions of preternatural +power which had of late coloured his resolves and oppressed his heart, +Harold then took leave of the Vala, who returned mechanically to her +employment; and, leading his horse by the reins, lowly continued his +musing way towards the green knoll and its heathen ruins. But ere he +gained the hillock, and while his thoughtful eyes were bent on the +ground, he felt his arm seized tenderly--turned--and beheld Edith's +face full of unutterable and anxious love. + +With that love, indeed, there was blended so much wistfulness, so much +fear, that Harold exclaimed: + +"Soul of my soul, what hath chanced? what affects thee thus?" + +"Hath no danger befallen thee?" asked Edith falteringly, and gazing on +his face with wistful, searching eyes. "Danger! none, sweet +trembler," answered the Earl, evasively. + +Edith dropped her eager looks, and clinging to his arm, drew him on +silently into the forest land. She paused at last where the old +fantastic trees shut out the view of the ancient ruins; and when, +looking round, she saw not those grey gigantic shafts which mortal +hand seemed never to have piled together, she breathed more freely. + +"Speak to me," then said Harold, bending his face to hers; "why this +silence?" + +"Ah, Harold!" answered his betrothed, "thou knowest that ever since we +have loved one another, my existence hath been but a shadow of thine; +by some weird and strange mystery, which Hilda would explain by the +stars or the fates, that have made me a part of thee, I know by the +lightness or gloom of my own spirit when good or ill shall befall +thee. How often, in thine absence, hath a joy suddenly broke upon me; +and I felt by that joy, as by the smile of a good angel, that thou +hast passed safe through some peril, or triumphed over some foe! And +now thou askest me why I am so sad;--I can only answer thee by saying, +that the sadness is cast upon me by some thunder gloom on thine own +destiny." + +Harold had sought Edith to speak of his meditated journey, but seeing +her dejection he did not dare; so he drew her to his breast, and chid +her soothingly for her vain apprehensions. But Edith would not be +comforted; there seemed something weighing on her mind and struggling +to her lips, not accounted for merely by sympathetic forebodings; and +at length, as he pressed her to tell all, she gathered courage and +spoke: + +"Do not mock me," she said, "but what secret, whether of vain folly or +of meaning fate, should I hold from thee? All this day I struggled in +vain against the heaviness of my forebodings. How I hailed the sight +of Gurth thy brother! I besought him to seek thee--thou hast seen +him." + +"I have!" said Harold. "But thou wert about to tell me of something +more than this dejection." + +"Well," resumed Edith, "after Gurth left me, my feet sought +involuntarily the hill on which we have met so often. I sate down +near the old tomb, a strange weariness crept on my eyes, and a sleep +that seemed not wholly sleep fell over me. I struggled against it, as +if conscious of some coming terror; and as I struggled, and ere I +slept, Harold,--yes, ere I slept,--I saw distinctly a pale and +glimmering figure rise from the Saxon's grave. I saw--I see it still! +Oh, that livid front, those glassy eyes!" + +"The figure of a warrior?" said Harold, startled. + +"Of a warrior, armed as in the ancient days, armed like the warrior +that Hilda's maids are working for thy banner. I saw it; and in one +hand it held a spear, and in the other a crown." + +"A crown!--Say on, say on." + +"I saw no more; sleep, in spite of myself, fell on me, a sleep full of +confused and painful--rapid and shapeless images, still at last this +dream rose clear. I beheld a bright and starry shape, that seemed as +a spirit, yet wore thine aspect, standing on a rock; and an angry +torrent rolled between the rock and the dry safe land. The waves +began to invade the rock, and the spirit unfurled its wings as to +flee. And then foul things climbed up from the slime of the rock, and +descended from the mists of the troubled skies, and they coiled round +the wings and clogged them." + +"Then a voice cried in my ear,--'Seest thou not on the perilous rock +the Soul of Harold the Brave?--seest thou not that the waters engulf +it, if the wings fail to flee? Up, Truth, whose strength is in +purity, whose image is woman, and aid the soul of the brave!' I +sought to spring to thy side; but I was powerless, and behold, close +beside me, through my sleep as through a veil, appeared the shafts of +the ruined temple in which I lay reclined. And, methought, I saw +Hilda sitting alone by the Saxon's grave, and pouring from a crystal +vessel black drops into a human heart which she held in her hands: and +out of that heart grew a child, and out of that child a youth, with +dark mournful brow. And the youth stood by thy side and whispered to +thee: and from his lips there came a reeking smoke, and in that smoke +as in a blight the wings withered up. And I heard the Voice say, +'Hilda, it is thou that hast destroyed the good angel, and reared from +the poisoned heart the loathsome tempter!' And I cried aloud, but it +was too late; the waves swept over thee, and above the waves there +floated an iron helmet, and on the helmet was a golden crown--the +crown I had seen in the hand of the spectre!" + +"But this is no evil dream, my Edith," said Harold, gaily. + +Edith, unheeding him, continued: + +"I started from my sleep. The sun was still high--the air lulled and +windless. Then through the shafts and down the hill there glided in +that clear waking daylight, a grisly shape like that which I have +heard our maidens say the witch-hags, sometimes seen in the forest, +assume; yet in truth, it seemed neither of man nor woman. It turned +its face once towards me, and on that hideous face were the glee and +hate of a triumphant fiend. Oh, Harold, what should all this +portend?" + +"Hast thou not asked thy kinswoman, the diviner of dreams?" + +"I asked Hilda, and she, like thee, only murmured, 'The Saxon crown!' +But if there be faith in those airy children of the night, surely, O +adored one, the vision forebodes danger, not to life, but to soul; and +the words I heard seemed to say that thy wings were thy valour, and +the Fylgia thou hadst lost was,--no, that were impossible--" + +"That my Fylgia was TRUTH, which losing, I were indeed lost to thee. +Thou dost well," said Harold, loftily, "to hold that among the lies of +the fancy. All else may, perchance, desert me, but never mine own +free soul. Self-reliant hath Hilda called me in mine earlier days, +and wherever fate casts me,--in my truth, and my love, and my +dauntless heart, I dare both man and the fiend." + +Edith gazed a moment in devout admiration on the mien of her hero- +lover, then she drew closer and closer to his breast, consoled and +believing. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +With all her persuasion of her own powers in penetrating the future, +we have seen that Hilda had never consulted her oracles on the fate of +Harold, without a dark and awful sense of the ambiguity of their +responses. That fate, involving the mightiest interests of a great +race, and connected with events operating on the farthest times and +the remotest lands, lost itself to her prophetic ken amidst omens the +most contradictory, shadows and lights the most conflicting, meshes +the most entangled. Her human heart, devotedly attached to the Earl, +through her love for Edith,--her pride obstinately bent on securing to +the last daughter of her princely race that throne, which all her +vaticinations, even when most gloomy, assured her was destined to the +man with whom Edith's doom was interwoven, combined to induce her to +the most favourable interpretation of all that seemed sinister and +doubtful. But according to the tenets of that peculiar form of magic +cultivated by Hilda, the comprehension became obscured by whatever +partook of human sympathy. It was a magic wholly distinct from the +malignant witchcraft more popularly known to us, and which was equally +common to the Germanic and Scandinavian heathens. + +The magic of Hilda was rather akin to the old Cimbrian Alirones, or +sacred prophetesses; and, as with them, it demanded the priestess-- +that is, the person without human ties or emotions, a spirit clear as +a mirror, upon which the great images of destiny might be cast +untroubled. + +However the natural gifts and native character of Hilda might be +perverted by the visionary and delusive studies habitual to her, there +was in her very infirmities a grandeur, not without its pathos. In +this position which she had assumed between the earth and the heaven, +she stood so solitary and in such chilling air,--all the doubts that +beset her lonely and daring soul came in such gigantic forms of terror +and menace!--On the verge of the mighty Heathenesse sinking fast into +the night of ages, she towered amidst the shades, a shade herself; and +round her gathered the last demons of the Dire Belief, defying the +march of their luminous foe, and concentering round their mortal +priestess, the wrecks of their horrent empire over a world redeemed. + +All the night that succeeded her last brief conference with Harold, +the Vala wandered through the wild forest land, seeking haunts or +employed in collecting herbs, hallowed to her dubious yet solemn lore; +and the last stars were receding into the cold grey skies, when, +returning homeward, she beheld within the circle of the Druid temple a +motionless object, stretched on the ground near the Teuton's grave; +she approached, and perceived what seemed a corpse, it was so still +and stiff in its repose, and the face upturned to the stars was so +haggard and death-like;--a face horrible to behold; the evidence of +extreme age was written on the shrivelled livid skin and the deep +furrows, but the expression retained that intense malignity which +belongs to a power of life that extreme age rarely knows. The garb, +which was that of a remote fashion, was foul and ragged, and neither +by the garb, nor by the face, was it easy to guess what was the sex of +this seeming corpse. But by a strange and peculiar odour that rose +from the form [179], and a certain glistening on the face, and the +lean folded hands, Hilda knew that the creature was one of those +witches, esteemed of all the most deadly and abhorred, who, by the +application of certain ointments, were supposed to possess the art of +separating soul from body, and, leaving the last as dead, to dismiss +the first to the dismal orgies of the Sabbat. It was a frequent +custom to select for the place of such trances, heathen temples and +ancient graves. And Hilda seated herself beside the witch to await +the waking. The cock crowed thrice, heavy mists began to arise from +the glades, covering the gnarled roots of the forest trees, when the +dread face on which Hilda calmly gazed, showed symptoms of returning +life! a strong convulsion shook the vague indefinite form under its +huddled garments, the eyes opened, closed,--opened again; and what had +a few moments before seemed a dead thing sate up and looked round. + +"Wicca," said the Danish prophetess, with an accent between contempt +and curiosity, "for what mischief to beast or man hast thou followed +the noiseless path of the Dreams through the airs of Night?" + +The creature gazed hard upon the questioner, from its bleared but +fiery eyes, and replied slowly, "Hail, Hilda, the Morthwyrtha! why art +thou not of us, why comest thou not to our revels? Gay sport have we +had to-night with Faul and Zabulus [180]; but gayer far shall our +sport be in the wassail hall of Senlac, when thy grandchild shall come +in the torchlight to the bridal bed of her lord. A buxom bride is +Edith the Fair, and fair looked her face in her sleep on yester noon, +when I sate by her side, and breathed on her brow, and murmured the +verse that blackens the dream; but fairer still shall she look in her +sleep by her lord. Ha! ha! Ho! we shall be there, with Zabulus and +Faul; we shall be there!" + +"How!" said Hilda, thrilled to learn that the secret ambition she +cherished was known to this loathed sister in the art. "How dost thou +pretend to that mystery of the future, which is dim and clouded even +to me? Canst thou tell when and where the daughter of the Norse kings +shall sleep on the breast of her lord?" + +A sound that partook of laughter, but was so unearthly in its +malignant glee that it seemed not to come from a human lip, answered +the Vala; and as the laugh died the witch rose, and said: + +"Go and question thy dead, O Morthwyrtha! Thou deemest thyself wiser +than we are; we wretched hags, whom the ceorl seeks when his herd has +the murrain, or the girl when her false love forsakes her; we, who +have no dwelling known to man; but are found at need in the wold or +the cave, or the side of dull slimy streams where the murderess-mother +hath drowned her babe. Askest thou, O Hilda, the rich and the +learned, askest thou counsel and lore from the daughter of Faul?" + +"No," answered the Vala, haughtily, "not to such as thou do the great +Nornas unfold the future. What knowest thou of the runes of old, +whispered by the trunkless skull to the mighty Odin? runes that +control the elements, and conjure up the Shining Shadows of the grave. +Not with thee will the stars confer; and thy dreams are foul with +revelries obscene, not solemn and haunted with the bodements of things +to come! Only I marvelled, while I beheld thee on the Saxon's grave, +what joy such as thou can find in that life above life, which draws +upward the soul of the true Vala." + +"The joy," replied the Witch, "the joy which comes from wisdom and +power, higher than you ever won with your spells from the rune or the +star. Wrath gives the venom to the slaver of the clog, and death to +the curse of the Witch. When wilt thou be as wise as the hag thou +despisest? When will all the clouds that beset thee roll away from +thy ken? When thy hopes are all crushed, when thy passions lie dead, +when thy pride is abased, when thou art but a wreck, like the shafts +of this temple, through which the starlight can shine. Then only, thy +soul will see clearly the sense of the runes, and then, thou and I +will meet on the verge of the Black Shoreless Sea!" + +So, despite all her haughtiness and disdain, did these words startle +the lofty Prophetess, that she remained gazing into space long after +that fearful apparition had vanished, and up from the grass, which +those obscene steps had profaned, sprang the lark carolling. + +But ere the sun had dispelled the dews on the forest sward, Hilda had +recovered her wonted calm, and, locked within her own secret chamber, +prepared the seid and the runes for the invocation of the dead. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Resolving, should the auguries consulted permit him to depart, to +entrust Gurth with the charge of informing Edith, Harold parted from +his betrothed, without hint of his suspended designs; and he passed +the day in making all preparations for his absence and his journey, +promising Gurth to give his final answer on the morrow,--when either +himself or his brother should depart for Rouen. But more and more +impressed with the arguments of Gurth, and his own sober reason, and +somewhat perhaps influenced by the forebodings of Edith (for that +mind, once so constitutionally firm, had become tremulously alive to +such airy influences), he had almost predetermined to assent to his +brother's prayer, when he departed to keep his dismal appointment with +the Morthwyrtha. The night was dim, but not dark; no moon shone, but +the stars, wan though frequent, gleamed pale, as from the farthest +deeps of the heaven; clouds grey and fleecy rolled slowly across the +welkin, veiling and disclosing, by turns, the melancholy orbs. + +The Morthwyrtha, in her dark dress, stood within the circle of stones. +She had already kindled a fire at the foot of the bautastein, and its +glare shone redly on the grey shafts; playing through their forlorn +gaps upon the sward. By her side was a vessel, seemingly of pure +water, filled from the old Roman fountain, and its clear surface +flashed blood-red in the beams. Behind them, in a circle round both +fire and water, were fragments of bark, cut in a peculiar form, like +the head of an arrow, and inscribed with the mystic letters; nine were +the fragments, and on each fragment were graved the runes. In her +right hand the Morthwyrtha held her seid-staff, her feet were bare, +and her loins girt by the Hunnish belt inscribed with mystic letters; +from the belt hung a pouch or gipsire of bearskin, with plates of +silver. Her face, as Harold entered the circle, had lost its usual +calm--it was wild and troubled. + +She seemed unconscious of Harold's presence, and her eye fixed and +rigid, was as that of one in a trance. Slowly, as if constrained by +some power not her own, she began to move round the ring with a +measured pace, and at last her voice broke low, hollow, and internal, +into a rugged chaunt, which may be thus imperfectly translated-- + + "By the Urdar-fount dwelling, + Day by day from the rill, + The Nornas besprinkle + The ash Ygg-drassill, [181] + The hart bites the buds, + And the snake gnaws the root, + But the eagle all-seeing + Keeps watch on the fruit. + + These drops on thy tomb + From the fountain I pour; + With the rune I invoke thee, + With flame I restore. + Dread Father of men, + In the land of thy grave, + Give voice to the Vala, + And light to the Brave." + +As she thus chaunted, the Morthwyrtha now sprinkled the drops from the +vessel over the bautastein,--now, one by one, cast the fragments of +bark scrawled with runes on the fire. Then, whether or not some +glutinous or other chemical material had been mingled in the water, a +pale gleam broke from the gravestone thus sprinkled, and the whole +tomb glistened in the light of the leaping fire. From this light a +mist or thin smoke gradually rose, and took, though vaguely, the +outline of a vast human form. But so indefinite was the outline to +Harold's eye, that gazing on it steadily, and stilling with strong +effort his loud heart, he knew not whether it was a phantom or a +vapour that he beheld. + +The Vala paused, leaning on her staff, and gazing in awe on the +glowing stone, while the Earl, with his arms folded on his broad +breast, stood hushed and motionless. The sorceress recommenced: + + "Mighty dead, I revere thee, + Dim-shaped from the cloud, + With the light of thy deeds + For the web of thy shroud. + + As Odin consulted + Mimir's skull hollow-eyed, [182] + Odin's heir comes to seek + In the Phantom a guide." + +As the Morthwyrtha ceased, the fire crackled loud, and from its flame +flew one of the fragments of bark to the feet of the sorceress:--the +runic letters all indented with sparks. + +The sorceress uttered a loud cry, which, despite his courage and his +natural strong sense, thrilled through the Earl's heart to his marrow +and bones, so appalling was it with wrath and terror; and while she +gazed aghast on the blazing letters, she burst forth: + + "No warrior art thou, + And no child of the tomb; + I know thee, and shudder, + Great Asa of Doom. + + Thou constrainest my lips + And thou crushest my spell; + Bright Son of the Giant + Dark Father of Hell!" [183] + +The whole form of the Morthwyrtha then became convulsed and agitated, +as if with the tempest of frenzy; the foam gathered to her lips, and +her voice rang forth like a shriek: + + "In the Iron Wood rages + The Weaver of Harm, + The giant Blood-drinker + Hag-born MANAGARM. [184] + + A keel nears the shoal; + From the slime and the mud + Crawl the newt and the adder, + The spawn the of flood. + + Thou stand'st on the rock + Where the dreamer beheld thee. + O soul, spread thy wings, + Ere the glamour hath spell'd thee. + + O, dread is the tempter, + And strong the control; + But conquer'd the tempter, + If firm be the soul" + +The Vala paused; and though it was evident that in her frenzy she was +still unconscious of Harold's presence, and seemed but to be the +compelled and passive voice to some Power, real or imaginary, beyond +her own existence, the proud man approached, and said: + +"Firm shall be my soul, nor of the dangers which beset it would I ask +the dead or the living. If plain answers to mortal sense can come +from these airy shadows or these mystic charms, reply, O interpreter +of fate; reply but to the questions I demand. If I go to the court of +the Norman, shall I return unscathed?" + +The Vala stood rigid as a shape of stone while Harold thus spoke; and +her voice came so low and strange as if forced from her scarce-moving +lips: + +"Thou shalt return unscathed." + +"Shall the hostages of Godwin, my father, be released" + +"The hostages of Godwin shall be released," answered the same voice; +"the hostages of Harold be retained." + +"Wherefore hostage from me?" + +"In pledge of alliance with the Norman." + +"Ha! then the Norman and Harold shall plight friendship and troth?" + +"Yes!" answered the Vala; but this time a visible shudder passed over +her rigid form. + +"Two questions more, and I have done. The Norman priests have the ear +of the Roman Pontiff. Shall my league with William the Norman avail +to win me my bride?" + +"It will win thee the bride thou wouldst never have wedded but for thy +league with William the Norman. Peace with thy questions, peace!" +continued the voice, trembling as with some fearful struggle; "for it +is the demon that forces my words, and they wither my soul to speak +them." + +"But one question more remains; shall I live to wear the crown of +England; and if so, when shall I be a king?" + +At these words the face of the Prophetess kindled, the fire suddenly +leapt up higher and brighter; again, vivid sparks lighted the runes on +the fragments of bark that were shot from the flame; over these last +the Morthwyrtha bowed her head, and then, lifting it, triumphantly +burst once more into song. + + "When the Wolf Month [185], grim and still, + Heaps the snow-mass on the hill; + When, through white air, sharp and bitter, + Mocking sunbeams freeze and glitter; + When the ice-gems, bright and barbed, + Deck the boughs the leaves had garbed + Then the measure shall be meted, + And the circle be completed. + Cerdic's race, the Thor-descended, + In the Monk-king's tomb be ended; + And no Saxon brow but thine + Wear the crown of Woden's line. + + Where thou wendest, wend unfearing, + Every step thy throne is nearing. + Fraud may plot, and force assail thee,-- + Shall the soul thou trusteth fail thee? + If it fail thee, scornful hearer, + Still the throne shines near and nearer. + Guile with guile oppose, and never + Crown and brow shall Force dissever: + Till the dead men unforgiving + Loose the war steeds on the living; + Till a sun whose race is ending + Sees the rival stars contending; + Where the dead men, unforgiving, + Wheel the war steeds round the living. + + Where thou wendest, wend unfearing; + Every step thy throne is nearing. + Never shall thy House decay, + Nor thy sceptre pass away, + While the Saxon name endureth + In the land thy throne secureth; + Saxon name and throne together, + Leaf and root, shall wax and wither; + So the measure shall be meted, + And the circle close completed. + + Art thou answer'd, dauntless seeker? + Go, thy bark shall ride the breaker, + Every billow high and higher, + Waft thee up to thy desire; + And a force beyond thine own, + Drift and strand thee on the throne. + + When the Wolf Month, grim and still, + Piles the snow-mass on the hill, + In the white air sharp and bitter + Shall thy kingly sceptre glitter: + When the ice-gems barb the bough + Shall the jewels clasp thy brow; + Winter-wind, the oak uprending, + With the altar-anthem blending; + Wind shall howl, and mone shall sing, + 'Hail to Harold--HAIL THE KING!'" + +An exultation that seemed more than human, so intense it was and so +solemn,--thrilled in the voice which thus closed predictions that +seemed signally to belie the more vague and menacing warnings with +which the dreary incantation had commenced. The Morthwyrtha stood +erect and stately, still gazing on the pale blue flame that rose from +the burial stone, still slowly the flame waned and paled, and at last +died with a sudden flicker, leaving the grey tomb standing forth all +weatherworn and desolate, while a wind rose from the north and sighed +through the roofless columns. Then as the light over the grave +expired, Hilda gave a deep sigh, and fell to the ground senseless. + +Harold lifted his eyes towards the stars and murmured: + +"If it be a sin, as the priests say, to pierce the dark walls which +surround us here, and read the future in the dim world beyond, why +gavest thou, O Heaven, the reason, ever resting, save when it +explores? Why hast thou set in the heart the mystic Law of Desire, +ever toiling to the High, ever grasping at the Far?" + +Heaven answered not the unquiet soul. The clouds passed to and fro in +their wanderings, the wind still sighed through the hollow stones, the +fire shot with vain sparks towards the distant stars. In the cloud +and the wind and the fire couldst thou read no answer from Heaven, +unquiet soul? + +The next day, with a gallant company, the falcon on his wrist [186], +the sprightly hound gamboling before his steed, blithe of heart and +high in hope, Earl Harold took his way to the Norman court. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAROLD, BY LYTTON, BOOK 8 *** + +******* This file should be named 7679.txt or 7679.zip ******* + +This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen +and David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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