Part 43 (1/2)

We have provided him lodgings in the priory. The new hall is not to be dwelt in till the night when the happy pair enter it and make it their home.

Alfgar's cup of joy is full.

Monday after the Whitsun Octave.--

At last it is over. The weary waiting of ten years is ended. Alfgar and Ethelgiva are man and wife.

Canute gave away the bride in person. Elfwyn, Hilda, Herstan, Bertha, and Hermann, with his sisters--indeed all the kindred of the bride were there. Of the kindred of the bridegroom but one, so far as we know, is living--his father Anlaf. It has been a warlike race, and nearly all the members of the family have found a warrior's grave.

I performed the ceremony, a.s.sisted by all the brethren in the choral portions of the ma.s.s and the order of the marriage service. Ethelgiva was pale and composed although she shed a few natural tears, but wiped them soon. Alfgar was simple and unaffected, as he always is. All he does is so naturally done. Like Nathaniel, he is a man without guile.

The church was crowded. All the retainers and all the neighbours were present, and when the bride and bridegroom left the sacred building, they saluted them with cheers which made the welkin ring.

Then the whole party adjourned to the hall, which was crowded to the fullest extent. And for the poorer guests, who could not find admittance, tables were spread in the open air, beneath the shade of spreading trees, for the day was lovely even for June.

Canute remained throughout the entertainment, and, by his unaffected condescension and his cheerful sympathy, won the hearts of all. His general demeanour tends to efface his foreign descent from the mind. Yet we sighed for Edmund, for which even Canute would pardon us. He should have presided at the board.

When the night was far advanced the whole party broke up and retired to rest, after a day calculated to efface the recollection of many a hards.h.i.+p past.

For my part, when I returned to the priory, I mused for a long time on the dark paths through which our Lord has conducted us to this happy day. I thought of the period of Alfgar's conversion and baptism, of St. Brice's night, for which England has paid so heavy a penance, now, we trust, happily over. And while I thus thought, my musings led me to the tomb of Bertric, whose sacred relics, as those of a martyr, now lie interred beneath our high altar, and I wondered whether his blessed spirit could sympathise in our earthly joy. Yes; I doubt it not; and that he witnesses it from above. Through suffering to joy has been our lot; through suffering to glory his.

Tuesday.--

The king left this morning. His engagements are too numerous to permit him to give much s.p.a.ce to recreation. Before he left he summoned Alfgar, Anlaf, and Elfwyn, to a conference in the library --for they have a library as of old in the hall--and then he told Alfgar that he had talked with Anlaf who wished to convey the manorial rights of his former patrimony, and all its revenues, to his son, and to join our brotherhood, and that he desired him to witness the deed. Now, all the former charters of Aescendune were destroyed in the old hall, and the king had caused a new one to be drawn up, supplying all the defects caused by the loss of the earlier doc.u.ments; conferring and securing, by royal charter, all the lands of Aescendune, and those formerly appertaining to Anlaf, upon Alfgar, and his successors for ever, not, as he said, as a deed of gift, but as a charter securing and defining their rights and liberties, for him and his successors, to all future generations; and adding all the waste land of the adjacent forest, formerly holden of the crown, to their domains, with right of all temporal jurisdiction, and with the t.i.tle of Earl, which t.i.tle is common in the northern and more Danish districts, more so than ealdorman, which obtains in the south.

”Thus much,” said he, ”I know my brother Edmund would have done for you, and in his place it has fallen to my lot.

”Would,” he added, ”I could be all to you which Edmund would have been had he lived; that, perhaps, is not possible; but I know, Alfgar,” he added, ”how to esteem faithfulness, even when it has been sometimes exercised at my expense, for one once a rival, now only thought of as a brother.”

Then he turned to Anlaf.

”Old companion in arms,” he said, ”this makes up for Carisbrooke; well, Alfgar, hadst thou yielded then, thou hadst not been here now. Thy father and I owe thee something for the example thou didst set us.”

And then he turned to Elfwyn and wished him joy of his son.

After that he came to the priory and prayed awhile in front of the altar; his devotions ended, he came to my cell and made me a startling offer of a bishopric in Denmark, saying he thought there was much work to be done for G.o.d there, and he thought Englishmen would do it best; and thus, he added, after their Master's example, return good for evil {xx}.

But an old oak such as I am cannot be uprooted, and perhaps it is a carnal feeling, but I fear my earthly affections bind me here while life lasts, so, thanking him warmly for the distinction implied in the offer, I respectfully but firmly declined it.

And so the king and his retinue left Aescendune. Elfwyn and Hilda return in a few days to their happy valley; men have been at work for weeks making a good road there from the hall, and the journey will only occupy two or three hours to a good walker.

Herstan and his family leave for their home on the Thames (which has been rebuilt, together with the little church of St. Michael) tomorrow. Anlaf takes his vows as a novice next Sunday, his novitiate will be as short as the rules of our order allow; we shall all then welcome him as a brother.

Soon our days will flow tranquilly on. May G.o.d mercifully continue peace in our days.

”Stablish the thing, O G.o.d, that thou hast wrought in us.”

Christmas, 1017.--